What’s happening around town

• The Flour Melbourne has brought back its Mont Blanc pastry. The bakery’s take on the French chestnut dessert is made with a sponge cake base, cooked chestnuts, mascarpone Chantilly and chestnut mousseline cream.

• One of our favourite meal delivery services, The Sweet Potato Kitchen, has expanded and now delivers within a 40-kilometre radius of the CBD. The business, from founder and cook Emmy Feingold, is all about nourishing, tasty home-cooked meals made with ethically sourced ingredients and organic produce.

It uses some of Melbourne’s best suppliers – fruit and vegetables from Natoora, meat and poultry from Cherry Tree Organics, and seafood from Ocean Made – for regularly rotating dishes like carrot pad thai, coconut lamb curry and chicken congee. Check out the menu or visit the The Sweet Potato Kitchen for more info.

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• Chef Geoff Marett’s Japanese-inspired pop-up Nama has taken up residency at St Falls Resort in Falls Creek. Marett and Nama head chef Drew Thornton, are operating at 1550 Restaurant, the Powder Keg Bar and 1550 Cafe, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner until September. Find dishes including Nama’s signature ebi toast, a riff on prawn toast made using Turkish bread, prawn mousseline and the Vegemite-inspired Namamite, a mix of shio kombu, nori paste, black vinegar and soy.

This week in food and drink news

• Melbourne’s best new restaurants of 2024 (so far).

• First look: New bistro Molli from Nathan Toleman’s Mulberry Group has opened in Abbotsford. There are house-made pastas and fermented cocktails in punchbowls.

• First look: Malvern’s cosy new Italian restaurant, Lulu, draws influence from London’s dining scene.

• First look: Orlo, a new Mediterranean eatery, and Cordial Club, a basement bar, open in a former factory in Collingwood.

• Three of a kind: Offbeat Melbourne hot chocolates.

• Coming soon: Historic 1800s Hawthorn hotel The Beehive is to reopen next month.
• Three to try: Dressed down offshoots of upmarket restaurants.

• Melbourne’s craft brewery bust continues as Alchemy in Brunswick East announces closure.

• Now open: Trattoria Emilia in the CBD is now an Italian sandwich shop during the day.

• I can’t stop thinking about: NYC-style pizza from Sunnyside Sliced in Mentone.

• Ramen chain Hakata Gensuke is celebrating 10 years in Australia with four new limited edition flavours that use its tonkotsu broth.