Snack Bar: Win a $4100 Trip to Brae and More Melbourne Food News

What’s happening around town

• Fitzroy North institution Horn Please is turning sweet 16 – and pricing the entire menu at $16 for one day only. Swing by on August 15 for an affordable curry and a spot of celebrations, including live belly dancing. “Reaching 16 years is something we’re incredibly proud of,” says co-owner Amar Singh. “This celebration is our way of thanking the community that has supported us over the years, and it’s even more special to share it on India’s Independence Day.” Book here.

• Earlier this week a devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake claimed the lives of at least 254 people in Colombia, with a further 2700 still missing. La Esquina, a new Latin American food truck park in Footscray, aims to raise $50,000 for disaster relief. Visit from midday to 9pm on August 22 to take part. La Esquina is working with the Colombian embassy to determine how and where the funds will be donated; 100 per cent of donations will be sent to Colombia, with La Esquina absorbing staffing and other operating costs on the day.

• Birregurra fine diner Brae isn’t just one of the best restaurants in Australia. It’s also a pillar of the local community, providing jobs and raising funds to support the town and its residents: $274,000 to date. The restaurant’s 13th annual fundraising raffle is back this year, aiming to collect $30,000 for essential upgrades to the Birregurra CFA Headquarters. Enter now ($5) to win $9000 worth of goodies. First prize is a two-day getaway to Brae with dining, drinks, breakfast each morning, a guided farm tour, hamper and signed cookbook, plus a private Great Ocean Road trip with Lorne Tours. Second is a two-night stay at local farmstay Yalloak House. Third prize is two nights at another local, Bootmakers Cottage.

• Buwan ng Wika (Language Month) is held every August in the Philippines to promote the national language, Filipino. At Fitzroy restaurant Palay, it’s as good a reason as any for an annual dinner exploring the depth and diversity of the cuisine. This year’s edition, on August 15, has pastry chef Miko Aspiras flying down from Sydney to cook with Palay’s Fhred Batalona. Together they’ll prepare a $100 set menu that includes smoked milkfish paksiw (fish braised in vinegar), crab and clam pochero (stew), chicken piaparan (a coconut-milk curry) and a black Angus steak cooked sous vide with a Filipino-style jus. Book here.

• Iberian restaurant Bar Lourinhã just turned 20. To celebrate, it’s popping up at Prahran Market and relaunching its 2018 cookbook Eat at the Bar, updated and republished this year as Lourinhã. Head to the Harvest Hall, just behind Maker & Monger, to buy signed books; snack on gildas, tostadas, croquetas and paella; and enjoy a few drinks from a rustic barrel bar pouring Spanish wine, sherry, beer and the sangria-like tinto de verano. 11am–4pm, August 22.

• Sangiovese is the most widely planted grape in Italy, and goes into everything from bargain-bin table wines to high-end Chianti Classico and DOCG Brunello di Montalcino, one the most expensive wines Italy produces. The latter two categories are the focus of an intimate dinner at South Melbourne’s Lucia at 6.30pm on August 27. Guests will taste 10 wines – including Fontodi Chianti Classico, and Benda, L’Aietta and Casanova di Neri Montalcino – while enjoying a four-course dinner. $270 per person. Bookings essential.

• We’ve seen all sorts of fusion dishes and dinners over the years, but Chinese Italian is one of the rarer combos out there. Mongolian Chinese chef Charles Duan (Gaea) is giving it another crack with the team at Da Guido La Pasta in Carlton. On August 25 it’ll serve a $195, six-course menu, including a welcome Lychee Martini, paired Italian and Chinese wines (which are a thing now), and limoncello and Chinese whisky to finish. It’s called My 妈妈 (Mum) & Your Nonna – A Borderless Dinner. Book here.

• Fresh off his Dine Out collab at Mesa Verde, ex-Yardbird chef Geoff Marett brings his Nama pop-up to Collingwood diner Jollygood from 6pm on August 31. The menu is yet to be revealed, but creative Asian with a penchant for Japanese is usually in order when he’s in the kitchen. Bookings are essential. 

What we covered this week

• Chapel Street brasserie The Frog Club is the sexiest opening of the year.

• We’ve just added six new places to the Hot List, the definitive guide to where to eat and drink in Melbourne.

• Where Chefs Eat: Melbourne’s best bread, according to 17 top chefs.

• Michelin-recognised Pho Le lands on Elizabeth Street, direct from Ho Chi Minh.

• Paloma Pizza Bar stretches into Hawthorn, thanks to the brothers behind Vacation Coffee.

• The Mill Brewery exits Collingwood live music venue The Bendigo Hotel. What’s next?

• Where Chefs Eat: Bistra’s Simone Jude loves this breakfast spot “stuck in the ’80s”.

• Cam’s Kiosk at the Abbotsford Convent is gone. But here comes Bar Familiar in its place.