From halal American-style burgers to vegan eggs, we’ve got the lowdown on Melbourne’s newest and best openings this month.
Royal Stacks
After opening its first outlet in Collins St, Royal Stacks is now bringing its Shake Shack-esque offerings to Sydney Road – and this time, it’s catering to the strong Middle Eastern demographic in the area, with a completely halal menu.
Including almost all the Collins St store’s offerings, the halal menu doesn’t disappoint fans of the original Royal Stacks – it even includes a “fake” bacon burger called the Action Bronson, substituting pork bacon for “beef bacon” that looks DELICIOUS.
Royal Stacks also serves a range of frozen custard for dessert, teaming up with St Kilda’s 7 Apples gelato to create flavours such as Baklava and Rosewater & Pistachio. Drool.
Temperance Society
Coffee king Julien Moussi has got Camberwell’s café culture covered with his establishments My Other Brother, Collective and Legacy – the focus on consistently great coffee and great food has firmly established the cafes as brunch institutions for locals.
After establishing Age of Sail coffee brewers in Glen Iris last year, Moussi is now expanding his empire even further – partnering up with Eamon Sheahan (Miss Frank, Espresso 3121 and currently at Age of Sail Coffee Brewers) and Nicky Campbell (Executive Chef of Collective Espresso, My Other Brother and Partner/Executive Chef at Legacy) to bring us health food-focused Temperance Society in Hughesdale.
We can expect coffee to be the priority as in all of Moussi’s establishments, with a health conscious breakfast and lunch menu that include a few cheeky options for us consistently self-indulgent types. A spacious interior with a big, beautiful courtyard, this is likely to become THE brunch spot for locals of the south-eastern suburbs.
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POW Kitchen
Prince Bandroom is now more than just a place you can’t remember ending up on a Saturday night. The gig and dance venue now has a sophisticated Asian fusion kitchen to entice diners as well as dancers.
From bulgogi, to clams, to dumplings, POW Kitchen takes its queue from many different Asian food traditions, served alongside an extensive range of beers and cheerful Asian-inspired cocktails.
A lot of talent is at work here, from the chefs (Newmarket’s Woosun Choi and Longrain’s Daniel Hawkins) to the fit out designers (Six Degrees who designed the slick Newmarket and Auction Rooms spaces). Prince just got a whole lot more foodie-friendly.
Pidapipo Chapel St
Carlton’s most popular and delicious gelato, Pidapipo Gelateria, is spreading its sweet frozen love southside at its new, larger digs in Windsor this month.
The new venue will sell the same 20 flavours on rotation at the Carlton site, except with four additional granita flavours – rockmelon, lemon, peach and mint – and an expanded range of gelato sandwiches and cakes.
The Chapel St store will also feature an exposed “lab” section where customers can view all the ins and outs of the gelato-making process. YURGHM.
Feast Of Merit Rooftop
Richmond’s favourite social enterprise-driven dining experience now has an added aspect to its repertoire – a rooftop bar.
Coopers Brewery is a major player in the establishment’s new space where a selection of their beers will be on show, among other beers, wines and cocktails.
A selection of Middle Eastern-inspired snacks will be on offer to nibble on while you smash your Friday night drinks on the rooftop of this popular spot.
Matcha Mylkbar
Melbourne has gone matcha-bloomin’-crazy. Filled with antioxidants, the health conscious among us have been sipping matcha lattes and feeling smug about it ever since the radioactive-looking powder made from green tea leaves exploded onto the scene a couple of years ago.
One of the most prevalent producers of this powdery wonderstuff, Matcha Maiden, have now gone to the next level in their plan for matcha world domination and opened Australia’s first Matcha-focused café, Matcha Mylkbar.
Yes, the food is vegan, but meat-eaters don’t be deterred. The food is creative, diverse and delicious, from the vegan “eggs” made from sweet potato and coconut milk with “yolks” that ooze like the real thing, to the mushroom “lattes”. Worth a look-in for vegans, healthy eaters and curious food enthusiasts alike.
Tahini
From the people that brought us one of Brunswick’s best breakfast joints, Code Black Coffee, comes a slightly different food experience – Tahini.
Centered around Middle Eastern food, Tahini isn’t your standard smashed avo and eggs. There IS a scrambled egg version of a Lebanese wrap with olives and beans, but don’t forget to try the best of the menu via the soufra – the Lebanese sharing plates – for a real feast. Wash it all down with Code Black’s delicious coffee and you have yourself a Melbournized Beirut-style beginning to your day.