Snack Bar: $2 Cheeseburgers in Abbotsford and More Melbourne Food News

Published every Thursday, Snack Bar is a bite-sized guide to everything happening in Melbourne food and drink, including new menus, events, pop-ups and special offers. Plus, we round up every new restaurant, bar and cafe we covered over the previous seven days.

What’s on around town

• Charlie Duffy’s Hot Listed Daybaker has added a pretty new number to its short menu. The Tonka Blanc is a take on the Mont Blanc, pairing single-origin iced filter coffee with a tonka bean and panela cream, finished with a little orange zest.

• Shane Delia’s Maha has announced it will offer an à la carte service for the first time since opening in 2008. While the fine diner’s Soufra and Seasonal set menus aren’t going anywhere, the switch means more flexibility for customers and the kitchen. Find new dishes like Hokkaido scallops with Beirut butter, and Kagoshima Wagyu burek buns with sesame, celeriac and black truffle, alongside signature shared plates such as 12-hour roasted lamb shoulder with smoked eggplant, sticky lamb fat and za’atar jus.

• American-style pizza joint Deep End debuted a new creation at Molly Rose’s Pizza of the ’Burbs pop-up during Broadsheet’s 2026 Dine Out festival, and it was a sellout success. Now the ’80s Original Pan Pizza – which Connecticut-born chef Paul Paterson reverse-engineered from a US pizza chain’s 50-year-old staff training footage – is launching as a permanent fixture on the menu. The 14-inch pies are available now with a choice of three toppings: cheese, pepperoni, and supreme.

• Rolo’s Pizza Club is coming to Hot Listed brewery Molly Rose. Nama’s Geoff Marett and Raph Hyams are popping up with a menu of four pizzas and four snacks, paired with special drinks from the brewery. The duo’s take on the margherita features smoked olive oil, parmesan and black pepper. Other options include stracciatella and hot honey; zucchini and ’nduja with pine nut pangrattato; and a very intriguing prawn and nori pizza that speaks to Nama’s Japanese roots. From 4pm, September 11 at Molly Rose, Collingwood. Bookings are essential. 

• If you’re old enough (50-ish), you might recall spending Friday nights at Preston Market. For the rest of us, it’s a complete novelty. This spring the sprawling site is putting on three hours of food, live music, pop-up stalls and kids’ activities. Acts appearing at Night Festival include Jessica Wilson of Fools and Ventura, Latinx DJ collective Bellaqueo and Sri Lankan band Dynamics. 6pm–9pm, September 11 at Preston Market. See the full list of participating traders here.

• Hot Listed wine bar Public Wine Shop has a knack for hiring the most interesting chefs’-favourite-chef types in the country. And when it can’t hire them, it brings them in for one-off events. On September 13 the name is Aaron Turner, the lauded chef behind Geelong restaurants Igni, Songbird, Tacos y Liquor and Hot Chicken Project. He’ll cook a four-course lunch menu. $95 per person. 1pm, September 13 at Public Wine Shop, Fitzroy North. Book here. 

• Greek wines are easy to find and drink in Melbourne, if we’re talking about classic varieties like assyrtiko. Nice Eyes Wines is an importer that deals only with the country’s most exciting emerging winemakers, and it’s bringing that knowledge to Tzaki for a one-night dinner. There are just 34 seats available across two seatings, which include four courses by head chef Yianni Papanatsios, plus matched wines. $110 per person. 5.30pm and 8.30pm, September 15 at Tzaki, Yarraville. Book here.

• Mesa Verde and Nama’s Mexican-Japanese dinner for our second Dine Out festival was such a hit, they’re bringing it back less than three months later. Book now for a four-course, six-dish menu paired with free-flowing magnums of saké. $94 per person. 7pm, September 17 at Mesa Verde, Melbourne. Book here.

• For those who celebrate, National Cheeseburger Day is coming. Abbotsford bar Lulie Tavern is ready. It has 1000 burgers set to hit the grill – and they’re going for just $2 a pop. From 4pm–7pm or until sold out, September 18 at Lulie Tavern, Abbotsford.

• The same day, Carlisle Street Latin American restaurant Rufio hosts its second Brazilian Grill: a night of open-flame, entirely gluten-free cooking for $80 a head. Dishes include blue swimmer crab with tapioca crisp and coconut, and smoked duck with black beans, plantain and sweet-sour fennel – plus, get the restaurant’s take on the Caipirinha, a fresh, zesty cocktail made with cachaça (a fermented sugarcane spirit), sugar and fresh lime, for $15 all night. From 5pm, September 18 at Rufio, St Kilda.

• Broadsheet is putting on Making Moves Market, a one-day community event at Abbotsford Convent spotlighting local makers from across the country. There’ll be fashion, homewares, pet brands, skincare, crafts and ceramics, plus DJs, coffee, kids’ activities and food trucks from A1 Bakery and Toasta. Food retailers include Miou Matcha, plant-based mayo brand Umei, Daylesford brand The Fermentary, pickle specialist Acide and family-run olive oil label Golden Groves. 9am–4pm, September 20 at Abbotsford Convent. Entry is free.

What we covered this week

• Melbourne’s best new sushi counter is in Glen Waverley.

• A Dandenong market stall is serving fresh, made-to-order taho, just as you’d find it in the Philippines.

• Dessert Masters winner John Demetrios is opening a new venue in Richmond – but it’s not a Butter Days.

• Fitzroy Oyster House does exactly what it says on the tin.

• The people behind one of the city’s sharpest wine bars are bringing a new bistro to the old Chez Bob site in Armadale.

• The Donovans team are preparing to liven up Toorak’s Hawksburn Village with a new wine bar.

• Hanoi Hannah is departing Windsor after 14 years. But it’ll reopen nearby soon, better than ever.

• A pair of music industry veterans have taken over Con Christopoulos’s Angel Music Bar, levelling up an already cracking music program and state-of-the-art sound system.

• Three Michelin star chef Dominique Crenn is opening an all-day Melbourne restaurant.

• A former bartender has taken the keys to the Commercial Club Hotel from his old boss, and he’s kept the pub’s soul intact.