Melbourne's 25 best dishes
The Gumbo Kitchen food van specialises in Cajun cuisine from New Orleans. Source: Supplied
It has been a big year for eating out with dishes destined to go down in our culinary folklore appearing on menus across Melbourne and beyond - and we're not just talking about fine dining. Over the past 12 months we have been tucking into tacos, ribs, burgers and even a modern take on the Chiko Roll. Want to know more? Here is Weekend's pick of the year's 25 dishes to die for.
AS soon as they opened the doors 10 months ago, the guys behind The Smith knew their global-reaching menu contained a surefire winner.
It wasn't the betel leaves with crispy fish salad or the rib eye with hot mustard - though both are undeniably popular at this Prahran hotspot. No, what stopped chef Michael Lambie and manager Scott Borg in their tracks was the surging popularity of the soft fajitas with Cuban-braised waygu osso buco, avocado and spicy corn.
''I'd guess we would have served more than 15,000 of them,'' Borg says of his Tex-Mex hit. Running a close second at The Smith? Tempura prawn shiso leaves with a ponzu sauce.
In both cases, people eat them with their fingers, and that trend is not confined to a rocking hotel south of the Yarra. It seems we're all mad for finger food.
We're getting it from taco trucks and burger bars, of course, but we're getting our digits dirty in fine diners and cafes as well. Anyone for a pork slider from Neil Perry's Spice Temple? Or a panko-crumbed chicken burger from Miss Jackson? How about a serve of lamb ribs from the Aylesbury?
They all make the cut in Weekend's list of Melbourne's dishes to die for from the past 12 months.
Borg wonders if this finger fad is a return to the ''fun we had as kids, playing with our food.''
Others suspect it's all to do with the popularity of share dishes. Soft-shell tacos for four? Way to go. A plate of potato and quark vareniki for the table? Yes please.
After weeks of eating and assessing this city's new must-have mouthfuls, Weekend's culinary crusaders can also report some other trends. Our lust for Mexican food has, it seems, turned to love. We have a fatal weakness for duck done every which way. And for dessert, there's no doubt we're sweet-toothed to the max with sugar fiends crossing town to get a hit of Albert Street Food & Wine's lemon tart. Likewise the oozy chocolate fondant at Donovans.
Finally, finger food aside, we're gunning for grills. We want to sink knives into steaks at San Telmo, into octopus tentacles at Casa Ciuccio, into anything, really, that comes to the table all charry and chewy after getting a red-hot go over flame and coal.
Given that, the Aylesbury's ribs may well be the perfect Melbourne dish. Blistered and caramelised by barbecued heat and so finger lickin' good!
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Source: The Herald Sun, 21 July 2012
