Eating and Drinking Forecasts

January 1999

This year is not starting slowly as the excitement generated in the countdown for the year 2000 will get things moving from slow to fast boil and our culinary champions will be even more determined to keep their lead.

Award winners in Mietta's Eating & Drinking in Melbourne will go from strength to strength, the the Cookes at est est est are expecting to add to their repertoire both a baby and a book (to be called Marriages) this year; Vlado Gregurek will not only still be at the char grill where he has been cooking Melbourne's best steaks for more than 30 years, but plans to expand his Bridge Rd restaurant; Gilbert Lau at Flower Drum intends to notch up several more years providing Melbourne's best service into the next century; Pelligrini's will serve record quantities of coffee and apple strudel; the Chinta group will keep making Melbourne's most popular curry laksa (and keep drawing queues to their Sydney restaurant, Temple of Love); cafe a taglio, Guernica, Melbourne Wine Room and Circa are all in for the long haul. Brunetti's will show the art of coffee making at their new cafe at the Potter Museum and Supper Inn will continue to provide late nourishment in Chinatown.

But there will be a big change for the Grossi family whose South Yarra restaurant, Caffe Grossi, was shortlisted in our awards. In March they expect to take over Florentino, a legend in Australian restaurants with its beautiful upstairs dining room, along with what is said to be Melbourne's first bistro (created by Leon Massoni) on Bourke St. and the perennially popular cellar bar next door.

Florentino has always been an 'important' place to dine and it will be interesting to see it back under the direction of an Italian family once again. Far away from the glamour in Thomastown, Richard Thomas, is renovating the Parma Cheese factory in Apex Court, For many years, Leo Dalco, a cheese maker from the Parma region, made traditional Italian cheeses for the local community but was not able to make his much loved parmigiana. Thomas wants to "try and perpetuate Leo's legacy and one day, perhaps to use the beautiful copper vats to make real grana cheese here." Well known for his blue, goat and washed rind cheeses, (as cheese maker previously for Gippsland and Milawa Blue, King Island Brie, Yarra Valley , Timboon, and Meredith cheeses) Thomas will also make his own brand cheeses and, with the help of his daughter, Ella, open an adjoining cafe. Vines are being planted, and he hopes to create a "garden oasis in the midst of this ugly industrial area." In February the cafe will open at weekends, for enquiries, call the factory at 9466 4533.

Cafes adjoining or part of retail outlets will be opening all round Melbourne. In the next month, Yosh, a Japanese Garden Cafe, should open at 199 Smith St with a small Japanese menu served in the garden and a mezzanine where you can buy Japanese gift wear and clothes.

The Fiff team (Brad French, James Richards and Patricia O'Donnell) are looking for a retail outlet. Currently working from a wholesale kitchen in Brunswick, they are pleased to be finished the massive Christmas orders and can be contacted on 9381 2400 for just about any style of food orders or advice.

Bars will keep on opening, particularly in the inner city areas. Manchester Lane opened just before Christmas as a bar restaurant with plans for hosting music events regularly and also to provide much needed training opportunities for young people under the auspices of the Body Shop Group, owners of the Manchester House apartment and office complex in Flinders Lane.

Another place to watch is the Blue Elephant in Commercial Rd, Prahran. The Dreamtime Australia group have bought the cafe and have big plans for renovations to be finished by April. The Group may be opening another Blue Elephant in Melbourne and, also in Sydney. More about this later.