A Guide to the New Year Street Feasts

After a rough year, Melbourne’s hospitality scene is bouncing back.

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s New Year Street Feasts is just one example of how the city is putting on a show this summer. Inspired by Europe’s public piazzas and squares, the program – which is presented in partnership with the City of Melbourne and the Victorian government – spans 11 outdoor dining precincts around the city across New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

That means outdoor dining again on Flinders Lane and Little Bourke Street, as well as on Hardware Lane and the Paris end of Little Collins Street. More than 50 of the city’s best venues are participating, offering delicious set and à la carte menus across the two days – including all the wine and cocktails you could desire for either occasion.

While social distancing means the city can’t stage its usual fireworks display, there will be ample opportunity to rally around Melbourne’s revived dining scene instead. Here are our top picks for New Year Street Feasts – just be sure to book in advance.

Bar Margaux

Step into a merry French-influenced celebration along La Ruelle, the hidden laneway behind Bar Margaux. Named for the French year-end phrase “Le Réveillon”, which loosely translates to ‘the awakening’, this four-course candlelit dinner under the stars will showcase classic dishes (think gougères au comté cheese puffs and gâteau Opéra cake) alongside fresh Champagne cocktails and top Victorian wines. And if you can’t make it on New Year’s Eve, book in for a suitably late lunch version on January 1.

Thursday Dec 31, sittings from 6pm-11.30pm
Friday Jan 1 sittings from 3pm-5.30pm

More info here.

Chin Chin

Honour (and expand) the brunch-friendly tradition of yum cha with Chin Chin’s New Year’s Day menu from chef Benjamin Cooper. Promising elevated takes on 10 classics, the feast celebrates seafood in a big way, from prawn and crab spring rolls and scallop dumplings to salt-and-pepper squid enriched with nahm jim and crab-fried rice with asparagus, shiitake and baby corn. Other highlights include smoked brisket with black bean and red pepper and the chilli-salt chicken wings with honey pepper sauce and lemon – all topped off with an ice-cream sandwich for dessert.

Fri January 1, sittings from 11am-11pm

More info here.

Domain Road

Domain Road, South Yarra’s sought-after dining destination, will be in full flower this new year. Matilda are hosting a four-course tasting menu on both days that ranges from Merimbula oysters and Fraser Island spanner crab to smoked saltbush lamb ribs and summer berry trifle with vanilla cream and lemon myrtle. Meanwhile, Botanical Hotel’s five-hour NYE dinner menu showcases summery canapés and small plates like oscietra caviar (served with Grainshaker vodka), lobster rolls, steak tartare, roasted scallops and assorted desserts. And Entrecôte channels Paris with live music from La Mauvaise Rèputation on NYE and La Nuit Blanche on January 1. Their multi-course menu options on NYE include foie gras parfait tart, burrata and summer ratatouille and the classic almond pastry pithiviers, while the day after promises a spicy prawn brioche roll and French-Moroccan barbecue.

Matilda: Thursday Dec 31, sittings from 4.30pm-midnight;
Friday Jan 1, sittings from 11am-8.30pm

Entrecôte: Thursday Dec 31, sittings from 5.30pm-12.30am;
Friday Jan 1, sittings from noon-4.30pm

Botanical Hotel: Thursday Dec 31, sittings from 7.30pm-12.30am

More info here.

Cumulus Inc

Flinders Lane getaway Cumulus Inc offers both a New Year’s Eve banquet menu and a New Year’s Day à la carte menu stacked with summer produce and premium Victoria wine. The centrepiece is a boned and rolled spatchcock with wild fennel sauce, parsley and lemon, though that can be levelled up to a 28-day dry-aged O’Connor rib-eye for two. Also expect rock oysters with seaweed vinegar, wagyu bresaola with pickled muskmelon, spanner crab with smoked trout roe, and a perfectly breezy dessert combination of rose cream, fresh raspberry, Persian fairy floss and pomegranate sorbet.

Thursday Dec 31, sittings from noon-1am
Friday Jan 1, sittings from noon-9.30pm

More info here.

Gimlet at Cavendish House

The elegant Gimlet at Cavendish House will be a flurry of activity on New Year’s Eve, with a luxe set menu ranging from crudités to desserts and an à la carte dinner menu outside that includes rock oysters and Andrew McConnell’s crowd-pleasing cheeseburgers. The next day will see the à la carte menu run all day, inside and out, with live music inside on both days. And for all the appeal of the food, don’t lose sight of the signature cocktails, whether it’s a Savoy 1930 Champagne Cocktail (Dubonnet Rouge, Angostura, Champagne) or a Vino de Flors (elderflower wine, manzanilla sherry, caperberry brine and bubbles).

Thurs 31 Dec, sittings from noon-1am
Fri 1 Jan, sittings from noon-9.30pm

More info here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.