New bite sized degustation restaurant opens in Fitzroy
A 16-seat degustation only restaurant has opened in Melbourne’s Fitzroy helmed by a former Attica and Vue de Monde chef.
Chef-owner Mo Zhou and partner Alicia Feng have launched Gaea on Gertrude Street alongside equally small café daytime Calère in the space that was formerly German diner Messer.
After a decade spent cooking in Melbourne, Zhou says they want to “showcase Mother Nature” through their food, citing a fondness for foraging
His CV lists some of Melbourne’s best restaurants including stints as commis chef at Attica, chef de partie at Vue de Monde and sous chef at The Press Club.
He also spent two months in Copenhagen working in degustation restaurants Kadeau and Amass, before doing 30 pop-ups in Melbourne, Sydney, Seoul and across China.
The menu comes as a six- or eight-course degustation. Zhou says pine needle is probably his favourite ingredient of the year.
“For three weeks every year the pine needles have bright-green tender top shoots that are edible and taste like the forest,” he said. “Then they’ll turn hard and green and are no longer edible.”
Sheridan Randall, 17th October 2019
