The 50 dishes that define Australian dining now

The 50 dishes that define Australian dining now

What are the dishes we’re talking about right now? What are the flavours that will take us into the next half-century?

There’s plenty of established excellence we haven’t included here. Golden Century’s pipis in XO sauce, MoVida’s smoked tomato sorbet and anchovy, Neil Perry’s date tart, Quay’s snow egg – living (and delicious) pieces of Australian culture all. But what of tomorrow’s hall-of-famers? Here, in no particular order, are 50 dishes from around the country making waves right now.

Pretzel and whipped bottarga, 10 William St

Chef Dan Pepperell may have jumped ship to Hubert, but his pretzel with bottarga remains a stalwart on the 10 William St menu. The seeded pretzels arrive at the table hot, with a plate of feather-light dip made zesty with bright salty roe. Umami for days, it’s a bar snack to be reckoned with. 10 William St, 10 William St, Paddington, NSW, (02) 9360 3310

Stracciatella, fermented fennel, chamoile oil, Embla

Stracciatella – otherwise known as the super-creamy heart of any self-respecting burrata – combines with fermented fennel and the aromatic, herbaceous note of chamomile oil for a light and delicate left-of-centre winner. File it under “shouldn’t work, but does”.  Embla, 122 Russell St, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9654 5923

Laham nayyeh, Gerard’s Bistro

It’s lamb rather than beef that makes the cut in this clever textural twist on a classic Lebanese tartare. Bundles of hand-chopped lamb and pickled radish, spiced up with fiery harissa and fragrant with preserved lime, arrive dotted on a crisp saj flatbread. Swirls of creamy cured yolk with a scatter of lemon balm bring the zing. Gerard’s Bistro, 14-15 James St, Fortitude Valley, Qld, (07) 3852 3822

Red-claw yabbies, lemon jam, cultured cream and buckwheat pikelets, Bennelong

Uniting that most Australian of crustaceans, the yabby, with that most Australian of after-school snacks, the pikelet, could, in the wrong hands, be a clunky piece of stunt-casting. In the hands of Peter Gilmore and Rob Cockerill at Bennelong, though, it’s Australia on a plate, the yabbies poached and chilled, ready to be forked onto the pancakes, warm and toasty in a fold of linen. Bennelong, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, NSW, (02) 9240 8000

Brown rice bowl, Tricycle Café

The brown rice bowl changes daily and is always delicious – the Sri Lankan chicken curry is a standout – but it’s Adam James’s umami-rich, often spicy fermented vegetables and condiments that make this dish memorable. And, of course, there’s the rice. It’s biodynamic, rain-fed brown rice with pepitas and sunflower seeds, kale, spring onion and chilli oil mixed through it. It might even be healthy. Tricycle Café, 77 Salamanca Pl, Hobart, Tas, (03) 6223 7228

Too many Italians and only only Asian, Nora

Sarin Rojanametin’s witty tribute to Carlton’s Italian food culture might look like pesto pasta, but the pasta is actually green papaya, and the pesto a mix of roasted cashew nuts, sator beans and pieces of school prawn tossed with sorrel oil and fermented garlic powder. It’s a clever trick that succeeds on the strength of balance and flavour. Nora, 156 Elgin St, Carlton, Vic, (03) 9041 8644

Macaroni, pig’s head and egg yolk, Acme

Many of Acme’s brightest moments come when skilfully made fresh pasta meets flavours it seldom encounters in Italy. And few are as bright (or as satisfying) as one of the kitchen’s earliest hits. Mitch Orr takes the key elements of sisig, the Filipino classic of pig’s head double-cooked, marinated in vinegar and served topped with a raw- or runny-yolked egg, and grafts them onto impeccable macaroni. Garlicky genius. Acme, 60 Bayswater Rd, Rushcutters Bay, NSW

Garlic bread, burnt vanilla, brown butter, Gauge

Sticky fermented black garlic and treacle add to the sharp aesthetic, which is then neatly undone by a smooth quenelleof rich salty-sweet brown butter garnished with bitter burnt vanilla that also adds richness and balance. It has become so popular it now appears on Gauge’s evening menu as dessert, too. Gauge, 77 Grey St, South Brisbane, Qld

Anchovy and its bones, Provenance

It’s the most spectral of snacks: a fat, dusky-pink filleted Sicilian anchovy accessorised with – what else? – its skeleton, fried whole. A double-whammy of salty, brittle shatter and raw, velvety give. Meta never tasted better. Provenance, 86 Ford St, Beechworth, Vic, (03) 5728 1786

Baked vacherin and polish sausage, Continental Deli

If excess paves the road to wisdom, then Continental’s baked cheese is brilliance in a box. Chef Jesse Warkentin pops a deeply creamy cow’s milk washed-rind into the oven with white wine and herbs. If the threat of winey molten cheese wasn’t enough, he teams it notwith bread or crudités for the dipping, but – wait for it – green olives and rounds of smoked Polish sausage. Continental Deli, 210 Australia St, Newtown, NSW, (02) 8624 3131

Prawn, fig-leaf cream and turmeric wafer, Aløft

The extraordinary thing about this dish is the fig-leaf cream, which tastes like coconut. It’s haunting and addictive, weirdly taking you straight to South East Asia, which is exactly Glenn Byrnes’ plan. The flavour of coconut is wrought using Tasmanian ingredients. The turmeric wafer and herb-spiked sambal are exceptional, too. Aløft, Brooke Street Pier, Hobart, Tas, (03) 6223 1619

Spaghetti fresca with clams and smoked tomatoes, Tipo 00

The world’s finest carbohydrate is magicked to a Platonic ideal with supple house-made fresh spaghetti, clams, garlic and chilli. Then the Tipo kitchen takes it to a whole new level with the addition of smoked cherry tomatoes. Two words: pasta perfection. Tipo 00, 361 Little Bourke St, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9942 3946

Blood sausage sanga, Ester

Mat Lindsay’s inspired take on the classic backyard sausage sandwich sees minced pork belly mixed with rice, pine nuts and a healthy dash of pig’s blood. It’s steamed and then roasted in the wood-fired oven before being placed on his canny replacement for spongy sliced-white: a steamed bread reminiscent of Chinese mantou buns. Sticking to tradition, it’s best folded in half and eaten with your hands. Ester, 46-52 Meagher St, Chippendale, NSW, (02) 8068 8279

Strawberry gum and set buttermilk, Orana

This elegant palate-cleanser is built around the unlikely foundation of eucalyptus. A quenelle of set buttermilk sits in a pool of strawberry juice and wildly fragrant green oil made from strawberry-gum leaves. This has been the finishing note on Orana menus since the restaurant opened, and long may it continue. Orana, upstairs, 285 Rundle St, Adelaide, SA, (08) 8232 3444

Snacks, Igni

Even the pre-dégustation snacks are stars at Igni. House-madeguanciale. Swatches of chicken skin topped with whipped cod roe. Baby zucchini flowers harbouring just-cooked mussels. Umami-rich beef jerky. And as for the crisp saltbush leaves dusted in vinegar powder, they ought to be packaged and sold in vending machines. Igni, Ryan Pl, Geelong, Vic, (03) 5222 2266

Yabby jaffle, Monster

Fun fact: Monster’s yabby jaffle started life as a snack when Sean McConnell was cooking at Močan & Green Grout. In his luxe version at Hotel Hotel, poached yabby meat is stuffed into fluffy white bread along with horseradish, crème fraîche and Gruyère, then it’s toasted to a perfect shade of gold. It’s sharp, buttery, cheesy goodness. Club sandwich who? Monster, Hotel Hotel, 25 Edinburgh Ave, Canberra, ACT, (02) 6287 628

Eight-hour lamb shoulder, Cumulus Inc

It’s so simple: whole lamb shoulder cooked low and slow until it’s magicked into a crust of dark gold and the meat surrenders on favourable terms. Consider it less of a dish, more of a patriotic duty. Cumulus Inc, 45 Flinders La, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9650 1445

Marron, young coconut, koji butter, Momofuku Seiobo

Smoke and sweetness, the freshness of the sea, the complexity of a gentle ferment, the richness of butter, and the cascading textures of marron barbecued to order and slippery young coconut make this a standout among standouts on the menu at our Restaurant of the Year. Momofuku Seiobo, The Star, 80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont, NSW

Banjaan borani, Parwana

The easy harmony of eggplant simmered in fresh tomato sauce produces the most seductive of slippery vegetable dishes. The secret is the texture – silky-soft without collapsing into mush – and its balanced accents of garlic yoghurt and fresh mint. Parwana, 124B Henley Beach Rd, Adelaide, SA, (08) 8443 9001

Panna cotta lamington, Flour & Stone

Nadine Ingram takes everything you love about this Australian classic and turns it up. First, she soaks the vanilla sponge squares with panna cotta. They’re then layered with berry compote, coated with dark chocolate, and finished with desiccated coconut and coconut flakes. Crunch, squish and cream – witness the evolution of an Australian icon. Flour & Stone, 53 Riley St, Woolloomooloo, NSW, (02) 8068 8818

Pecan sticky buns, Sweet Envy

Master pâtissier Alistair Wise’s croissant-based dough rolled with frangipane spiked with orange zest and amaretto is a unique homage to buns he ate at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon. Before baking, the buns are doused in dark salty caramel cooked just short of being burnt, which cuts the sweetness, infusing everything – even the pecans. Sweet Envy, 341 Elizabeth St, North Hobart, Tas, (03) 6234 8805

Chicken fricassée, Restaurant Hubert

Go with a gang, order the chicken, and don’t leave without gnawing the feet. Chef Dan Pepperell brines the Holmbrae bird, steams it, then deep-fries it, chops it up and puts it back together – head, feet and all. The whole fricasséed chook is served on confit button and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, and all the plate’s players come glistening with a glossy white wine and tarragon sauce. Unleash the Burgundy. Restaurant Hubert, basement, 15 Bligh St, Sydney, NSW, (02) 9232 0881

Croissants, Lune Croissanterie

The definition of “artisan” may have been bastardised beyond meaning in an era of mass production, but Lune will brook no slights. Kate Reid’s croissanterie has moved to bigger digs in Fitzroy, but her exacting iterations of French pâtisserie perfection remain truly artisanal – which explains why the queue forms before sunrise and they sell out by mid-morning. Lune Croissanterie, 119 Rose St, Fitzroy, Vic

Braised bone marrow, Lalla Rookh

Joel Valvasori-Pereza’s knack for reimagining robust Friulano cooking traditions made him one of the west’s most interesting dining prospects. Few dishes exemplify his flavour-first thinking quite as boldly as this split beef bone, cooked osso buco-style, and served with fat fingers of charred focaccia. It was a crowd favourite at Lalla Rookh, which he left this year; if you can’t catch it there, expect it to resurface on the menu at Valvasori-Pereza’s newest venture, an inner-city trattoria focusing on handmade pasta. Lalla Rookh, lower ground floor, 77 St Georges Tce, Perth, WA, (08) 9325 7077

Nahm prik nuum sandwich, Boon Café

Half Thai, half Sydney café, and pure Boon, this spicy sanga takes a fiery relish traditionally served with crudités and remixes it with salted butter and Brickfields sourdough into an inspired and utterly devastating take on the salad sandwich. Thailand meets the tuckshop in the most interesting of ways. Boon Café, 425 Pitt St, Sydney, NSW, (02) 9281 2114

Oyster Ice, Brae

It’s the oyster exponential: oyster brine combined with sheep’s milk curd into a savoury ice-cream, topped with a blitz of powdered freeze-dried sherry vinegar and dehydrated oyster and sea lettuce. The pure taste of the sea – served on the shell, naturally. Brae, 4285 Cape Otway Rd, Birregurra, Vic, (03) 5236 2226

Wood-roasted abalone, Franklin

Knowing how good it was when he’d cooked it beachside over coals, David Moyle decided abalone had to be on Franklin’s menu. It’s steamed whole for more than an hour, cleaned, thinly sliced, then returned with seaweed to its shell and roasted in the wood-fired oven. Finished with housemade oyster sauce spiked with black pepper and lightened with eggwhite, it’s magnificent. Franklin, 30 Argyle St, Hobart, Tas, (03) 6234 3375

Peri peri chicken, Africola

Chef Duncan Welgemoed transforms this Portuguese staple with robust South African vigour into a spectacular meal for two. Roasted chicken from the wood-fired oven is basted in “Mpumalanga fire” (Welgemoed’s feisty take on caramelised peri-peri sauce), accompanied by iron pots of chicken hearts and livers, cornmeal porridge topped with tomato gravy and leek ash, and a side plate of banana curry. Africola, 4 East Tce, Adelaide, SA, (08) 8223 3855

Fried chicken, Eleven Bridge

Think of it as the world’s fanciest chicken nugget: a round of boned-out chicken wing, deep-fried, skewered with a bone for ease of snacking, and thenbathed in kombu butter and topped, for good measure, with a healthy dollop of caviar. A finger-lickin’ good union of the sublime and the ridiculous. Eleven Bridge, 11 Bridge St, Sydney, NSW, (02) 9252 1888

Grilled pipis with lemon myrtle, smoked almond and garlic, Paper Daisy

Australia’s surf clams have had their star turns (most notably with XO sauce and wodges of fried vermicelli at Sydney’s Cantonese landmark, Golden Century), but they’ve never been more Hollywood than against the glam backdrop of Paper Daisy at Halcyon House, the boutique hotel at Cabarita Beach on the north coast of New South Wales. Here, chef Ben Devlin plays their briny bite off against the likes of potatoes and peas, or lemon myrtle,smoked almond and garlic. Paper Daisy, Halcyon House, 21 Cypress Cres, Cabarita Beach, NSW, (02) 6676 1444

Veal sweetbread schnitty sanga, Fleet

The perfect bar snack for a perfectly outré wine bar? It’d have to involve something fried. It would want to be a sandwich. There ought to be anchovies involved, possibly in a mayonnaise. And it’d need a clever twist. We give you Fleet’s schnitzel sandwich: rounds of soft white bread enfolding hot, golden-crumbed veal sweetbreads and a lick of anchovy mayo. Just add wine. Fleet, 2/16 The Terrace, Brunswick Heads, NSW, (02) 6685 1363

Burrata and shellfish oil, Automata

In a roundabout way we have Clayton Wells’s partner, Tania Ferguson, to thank for this unlikely flavour bomb. It was for Ferguson’s amusement at home that Wells had been recreating the shellfish oil he’d learnt to make at Tetsuya’s, and when he was looking for an interesting spin on the increasingly ubiquitous cheese, there it was. The only thing better than cutting into the creamy-centred cheese to release the vibrant orange oil is tasting it. Automata, 5 Kensington St, Chippendale, NSW, (02) 8277 8555

Tulips DIY, Attica

Ben Shewry has turned showman, splicing his ascendant native-ingredient obsession with a touch of theatre that places diners centrestage. To wit: the end-of-meal imprimatur to pluck a single tulip from the courtyard garden, the petals (edible, yes) of which are then filled with lemon myrtle cream and topped with fermented rhubarb sauce. A cracker dessert that argues for the relevance of fine dining. Attica, 74 Glen Eira Rd, Ripponlea, Vic, (03) 9530 0111

Caraway pastry with smoked trout and caviar, Oakridge

This dish combines the firepower of chef Matt Stone and his sous-chef/baker/ partner, Jo Barrett, to scintillating effect. Barrett’s superb escargot-shaped pastry (made from croissant dough studded with caraway seeds) is the stage for local smoked trout, trout roe, sour cream and herbs. There’s a whiff of the Nordic here, alongside a heap of Yarra Valley flavour. Oakridge, 864 Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream, Vic, (03) 9738 9900

Avocado with citrus, toast and local kelp salt, The Kettle Black

There are now around 1.2 billion versions of avocado on toast across the globe, but this combination gets it right by playing it straight and simple. Half a perfectly ripeavocado (stone out, skin on) arrives with sourdough toast, a wedge of lime, and salt made with dehydrated kelp. It’s DIY made perfect with carefully sourced, top-notch ingredients. The Kettle Black, 50 Albert Rd, South Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9088 0721

Potatoes with oysters and raw mushroom, Sixpenny

Steak frites, bangers and mash, fish and chips – potatoes are perennial co-stars. But the spuds at Sixpenny get their moment in the limelight in an ever-evolving course on the dégustation: roasted baby potatoes in house-made mustard, say, or poached Dutch creams in a toasted rye butter topped with slices of raw button mushrooms and an oyster emulsion. The not-so-humble spud. Sixpenny, 83 Percival Rd, Stanmore, NSW, (02) 9572 6666

Double-boiled wallaby tail soup, Flower Drum

A taste of the Australian terroir in a hallowed temple to high-end Cantonese food. Anthony Lui takes Flinders Island wallaby tail and painstakingly refines it into a rich, luscious broth powered by wolfberries and sweetened with yam. It’s both uniquely Australian and undeniably Canto – a multicultural masterpiece of harmony. Flower Drum, 17 Market La, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9662 3655

Massaman tartare, Rick Shores

Chopped to order, and presented with an ochrecoloured salt-flecked yolk at its centre, this radical take on diced raw beef is amped up with a gutsy massaman paste, white pepper, slivers of pickled garlic and more. Rick Shores, 43 Goodwin Tce, Burleigh Heads, Qld, (07) 5630 6611

Mackerel dumplings, Shan Dong Mama

It’s the Shan Dong Mama mystery: how can mackerel’s assertiveness be tamed into cumulonimbus-light, aromatic dumplings that practically levitate their way to your mouth? (Spoiler alert: the fish is turned into a fine mousse with ginger, coriander and chives.) Either plain boiled or panfried, they’re the stuff of dumpling reverie. Shan Dong Mama, Shop 7, 200 Bourke St, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9650 3818

Raw wagyu shoulder with grilled enoki, duck-egg cream and seaweed, The Bridge Room

Inspired by a memorable meal at a Kyoto restaurant that specialises in Kobe beef, Ross Lusted created this tartare, blending Japanese and Australian flavours. Translucent slices of well-marbled wagyu shoulder melt onto a bed of enoki mushrooms. They’re finished with a salted duck-egg cream and Olsson’s red gum-smoked salt. Lusted’s decision to slice rather than chop the meat means the dish is less of a tartare and more of an ode to raw beef. The Bridge Room, 44 Bridge St, Sydney, NSW, (02) 9247 7000

Chinizza, Lee Ho Fook

You’d have to be some kind of po-faced stick-in-the-mud not to get this “Chinese pizza”, a glorious so-wrong-it’s-right arrangement of fried pancake base massed with thinly sliced spring onions, shallots, chilli and brilliant buffalo mozzarella. So salty, crunchy and soothing you’ll want to order one for breakfast. Or at the end of a long night. Lee Ho Fook, 11-15 Duckboard Pl, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9077 6261

Crab noodles, Long Chim

Long Chim branches opening around the country is one instance of chain dining we can get behind, not least because Thai food authority David Thompson has developed a selection of dishes exclusive to each restaurant. In Perth, a dazzling riff on Chanthaburi’s regional signature, sen chan pad pu, a medium-hot noodle dish packing crisp crab, tomalley, fish sauce and tamarind. Soon it’ll be available at all Long Chims but, for now, it’s a west coast exclusive. Long Chim, basement, State Buildings, cnr St Georges Tce & Barrack St, Perth, WA, (08) 6168 7775

Saltbush cakes, Billy Kwong

Is it a dumpling? Is it a doughnut? Kylie Kwong’s savoury Canto-stralian saltbush cakes recall a number of things, but their taste is pure outback. Crisp deep-fried pastry is filled with leaves of the glossy native green, and house-made chilli and tamari sauces are on hand to complement the leaves’ bitterness. Billy Kwong, shop 1, 28 Macleay St, Potts Point, NSW, (02) 9332 3300

Miso and pink lady soft-serve, Supernormal

Old-school dessert meets new-school ideas at Andrew McConnell’s Japanese canteen. Take one soft-serve machine, add the savoury element of miso and the tartness of apple and, hey presto, a palate-refreshing Oz-Asian mash-up that’s a little bit kooky and totally unique. Supernormal, 180 Flinders La, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9650 8688

Ma po tofu, Dainty Sichuan

“Pockmarked grandmother’s beancurd” – Team Dainty didn’t invent the name, but their version of the dish has achieved international fame thanks to its take-no-prisoners onslaught of tofu and minced beef with chilli and enough Sichuan pepper to numb the mouth into next week. It ought to come with a warning. In fact, it does: a two-chilli legend on the menu. Take it seriously. Dainty Sichuan, 176 Toorak Rd, South Yarra, Vic, (03) 9078 1686

Tiramisú, Icebergs Dining Room & Bar

This Icebergs dessert is a little bit of a treasure hunt, and a lot of tiramisù. When it first hits your table, the sizeable slab of mascarpone mousse looks relatively unassuming but underneath you’ll find cubes of coffee jelly, Marsala caramel sauce, coffee sorbet, meringue sticks and gold dust – and that’s just the first bite. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, 1 Notts Ave, Bondi, NSW, (02) 9365 9000

Rice and Flesh, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

There’s an historical backstory to the dish, of course, but all you really need to know about Heston Blumenthal’s rice and flesh to enjoy it is this: it’s a sunflower-yellow pond of tangy, saffron spiked risotto lapping at pieces of kangaroo tail subtly cooked in curried red wine sauce. Comfort food circa 1390. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Crown Towers, level 3, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank, Vic, (03) 9292 5779

Kimchi and beef sandwich, Esquire

Ryan Squires is famous for pushing the envelope, but this cracker of a snack is more about filling it beautifully. A crisp wafer of house-fermented and dehydrated kimchi arrives sandwiched between slivers of beef, one air-dried, the other raw, dialled up with powdered sesame seeds, dried ginger and toasted nori in sesame oil. Consider that umami goodness signed, sealed and delivered. Esquire, 145 Eagle St, Brisbane, Qld, (07) 3220 2123

Saganaki with peppered figs, Hellenic Republic

Sweet meets salt. A toasty wedge of golden-crusted, almost blistered kefalograviera cheese still sizzling in the cast-iron pan, capped with baby figs in a syrupy sauce driven by honey, balsamic vinegar and plenty of black pepper. It’s all in the balance – and the speed with which it arrives at the table. Hellenic Republic, 434 Lygon St, Brunswick East, Vic, (03) 9381 1222; 26 Cotham Rd, Kew, Vic, (03) 9207 7477

Fish fingers with charred toast, Bodega

On the menu since day one of service 10 years ago, Bodega’s signature dish sounds pretty straightforward on paper: fish, garlic, burnt toast. But it is truly more than the sum of its parts. Slices of kingfish on fingers of blackened toast with a confetti of cuttlefish ceviche, coriander, onion and grated mojama come together in a brilliantly balanced mouthful of flavour. Bodega, 216 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills, NSW, (02) 9212 7766