Snack Bar: Brendan Pang Teams Up With Manze on a Mauritian Hakka Brunch and More Local 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

• West Footscray hangout Migrant Coffee has added a new, limited-edition siew yuk bagel to the menu. Head in for five-spice pork belly, Asian salsa verde, lettuce and stracciatella on a bagel of your choice, with optional house chilli oil. Available weekends only until October 31.

• Brendan Pang teams up with Hot Listed North Melbourne wine bar Manze for a walk-in brunch this weekend. The short menu features Mauritian Hakka favourites, including boulettes (Mauritian dumplings), teokon farce (stuffed tofu) and boulette chou chou (chayote dumplings). The star of the show is Bol 5 – a brothy affair with mixed dumplings, fresh noodles, and a short list of optional add-ons. From 10am until sold out, October 4.

• Ella Mittas launched her latest cookbook, Ela! Ela! To Italy, Georgia, Bulgaria Then Home, last week. This Sunday, Cumulus hosts a special four-course lunch drawn from its pages. Mittas has worked with head chef Hannah Holleran on dishes including mucver, golden Turkish zucchini fritters with Aleppo pepper and feta; mascarpone and marinated anchovies on focaccia; and slow-roasted lamb shoulder with grilled eggplant and walnut paste. From 12.30pm, October 4.

• To honour the first day of daylight saving, McLaren Vale wine producer Alpha Box & Dice joins Studio Amaro’s Basement Bar to showcase its five new releases with head winemaker Nick Guerin. From 4pm, October 4.

• Pebble Dining, the pop-up from ex-Amaru chef Cam Tay-Yap, will join forces with Circl head chef Elias Salomonsson for one night. The six-course meal will be a back and forth between Salomonsson’s signature Scandinavian style and Tay-Yap’s pan-Asian cuisine. From 5.30pm, October 8.

• Geoff Marett of Nama Please joins Steve Chan at Sleepys for OK Laa! Chinese Supper Club. The three-night event will celebrate Chinese food, childhood memories and the flavours both chefs grew up eating. From 5.30pm, October 8–10.

• International Beer & Pizza Day is coming up and Molly Rose, which recently made the smooth transition to become a neighbourhood pizza joint (and is a Hot Listed brewery bar), will mark the occasion by giving away 100 free margheritas. Get them with $5 pots of Molly Rose’s pizza-friendly malt lager, the Molly Rosso. From 4pm, October 9.

• To mark La Fiesta Nacional de Espana (National Day of Spain), Bar Lourinhã is hosting a long-table dinner. Taking inspiration from many trips to Seville, Matt McConnell and Jo Gamvros have devised a six-course menu including prawns à la plancha, croquetas, and slow-cooked meats like carrillada de cerdo (pork cheeks), alongside a selection of vermouths and Sevillian wines. From 6pm, October 15.

• Mochi doughnuts, Greek loukoumades, French crullers, and classic jammies are the tip of the iceberg at Melbourne Donut Festival. The festival returns to Queen Victoria Market over two days with 18 doughnut and dessert traders. 9am–4pm, October 17 and 18.

• Rockpool Melbourne is turning 20. To observe the day, the restaurant will host a one-night-only birthday dinner celebrating its producer relationships forged over two decades. The anniversary menu will remain throughout October, alongside the regular à la carte. October 19.

New openings we covered this week

• Piccolina has landed on Bourke Street with a handful of new flavours and a colourful fit-out.

• Also new to Bourke Street is Indonesian restaurant Kenangan’s second store.

• Hanoia entered the CBD with a Northern Vietnamese focus, with dishes like bun cha (rice vermicelli and grilled pork in a light broth) and banh hoi (compressed rice noodle cake).

• Fluffy Torpedo is back with its third store, this time in Richmond, and eight new flavours on the horizon.

Other food and drink news

• Pinnacle Hotel publican Michael Bascetta has brought nearby business Pizzeria Magma from founder JP Aziz. Bascetta will reopen it shortly with new business partner Matilde Razzoli, a current chef at Magma, who will step into the head chef role.