First Look: Everything’s Cooked Low and Slow at Chrystalla’s

Walking by Chrystalla’s, it’s hard not to be drawn in by the aromas of stock and slow-cooked casseroles. The tiny new venue, in the same Collingwood building as Lulu & Me on Hotham Street, is the latest from Lulu’s co-owner Michael Diamandis. The takeaway shop is a heartfelt tribute to his mother, Chrystalla, whose spirit shapes everything from the design to the food.

“The fit-out is a true reflection of my mother’s kitchen in the early ’70s,” says Diamandis. “It’s meant to feel like home – not staged or styled, just lived in.”

Head chef Jini Kulathungam leads the kitchen, crafting pottage food – a humble style of cooking that’s all about slow braises. “Pottage food is really just another way of saying casserole,” she says. “You throw all the ingredients in a pot and let them cook together slowly so the flavours deepen and the meat becomes tender. It’s about patience and comfort.”

The menu, Kulathungam says, is “heavily influenced by Michael’s mother, her cooking style, the flavours she loved and the way she brought people together through food”. Dishes include 12-hour braised beef, made with a combination of grass-fed cuts, chuck, neck and Wagyu shin, plus bone marrow and borlotti beans. The beef is dry aged in-house for three to four days to intensify its flavour before being cooked low and slow in a rich house-made veal stock that’s combined with tomatoes and red wine. The lamb shoulder, marinated overnight with lemon, bay leaves, fennel and green olives, is slow braised until it falls apart and is finished with a spoonful of tahini yoghurt.

Each casserole and ceramic pot sits front and centre on the counter. Meals are served directly from the pot over the chosen side of pilaf rice, creamy potato bake or crusty bread from Our Place Bakery in Heathmont. These are intentional, hearty, familiar accompaniments that echo old family tables.

Pole- and line-caught tuna is prepared and tinned in-house. It’s brined for 24 hours in olive oil infused with lemon peel, bay leaves and chilli before being served with fried capers, pickled green chilli and papas a lo pobre (or poor man’s potatoes, a Spanish dish of potatoes fried with onions and capsicum).

Chrystalla’s shares its wall and its spirit with Lulu & Me, the Collingwood favourite known for its pay-by-weight cheesecake. Kulathungam’s twin sister, Dilu Kulathungam, heads up the pastry section next door, making this a true family affair. While Diamandis still oversees both venues, he describes Chrystalla’s as “the heart project”.

The name Chrystalla’s isn’t just a dedication, it’s an invitation. “My mum was the kind of person who’d feed anyone who came to the door,” says Diamandis. “This is our way of keeping that alive.”

Chrystalla’s Kitchen
1-5 Hotham Street, Collingwood
No phone

Hours:
Thu to Sun 11am–5pm
@chrystallas_kitchen