The Roast Collection – www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au

True South – 298 Beach Road Black Rock www.truesouth.com.au
Chester White – Level 1 302-320 Burwood Rd Hawthorn – www.chesterwhite.com.au
Bosnian Roast at The Pita Lounge – 266 Railway Parade Noble Park 25th June – www.greaterdandenong.com/tours

The Roast Collection is an initiative of the team between the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and sees restaurants all across Victoria put on daily, weekly, and one-off lunches and dinners based around that favourite winter meal. This really is a fantastic way to go check out those restaurants you haven’t gotten around to visiting yet, and know what you’re getting and how much it’ll cost you. This week I’ve been out and about to check just a few of the huge number of events on offer.

BELOW IMAGES: Grass fed short ribs & cinnamon donuts from True South; Charcuterie plate & Roast Pork loin from Chester White; and the SAC cooker and Bosnian Roast Veal at The Pita Lounge.

True South –

A microbrewery in a fantastic position right on Beach Road, the menu at True South has undergone a huge transformation recently under the new leadership of Argentinian chef Mauro Callegari; and so it’s fitting that their contribution to the Roast Collection is in the form of an Argentinian Asado or BBQ. At $38 for three courses and a glass of True South beer or Squeaky Lane wine, this really is phenomenal value.

The meal starts with a choripan, my absolute favourite South American streetfood - this one’s in the form of a small roll with parsley, a coleslaw and tasty slice of chorizo. It’s small but a perfect start to highlight the best of the region’s meat offerings. The main has to be seen to be believed, a huge slab of grass fed short ribs that’s been flame grilled and then smoked overnight; it’s topped with scrumptious home-made chimichurri dressing and accompanied by roasted root vegetables.

I’d love to say that I simply couldn’t fit in the perfectly round cinnamon donut filled with gooey, sweet dulce de leche caramel – but I’d be lying. Despite convincing myself it couldn’t be done, it went down quite easily.

This was a great spot for lunch on a crisp, sunny winter’s day, managed to walk some of the meal off with a traipse along the clifftops on Beach Road. Be warned, you really want to be a meat eater to make the most of this one (and the ribs are a little fatty on top, so probably no extreme dieters), but I highly recommend it. Definitely worth keeping an eye on the True South website, they’re planning a series of beer dinners, and have been branching out into great, affordable degustation evenings.

Chester White

Situated in the large building that previously housed Canvas, the changes are evident as soon as you head up the stairs, no more dark middle Eastern tones, this incarnation is all light – from white tiled walls, to the pale floor and white topped timber tables. It’s got a definite casual bistro feel despite the enormity of the space. I had driven past and seen those bright yellow umbrellas, so again the Roast Collection deal was a great excuse to head inside and experience the transformation.

First impression of Chester White is that it must be family friendly – more than half the occupied tables have kids along for the ride; and we can see why when you read that on their “Comfortably Roasted Sundays” kids eat for less than half price ($20). There are other dishes on the a’la carte menu for junior guests, ranging from $10-12, and in-house iPads for use.

The roast here goes for $45 for two courses, a little steeper than True South, but then the amount of food we were presented with was almost intimidating! Course one started with some jamon and gruyere croquettes, and smoked salmon fishcakes with hollandaise. Most impressive was the Chester Charcuterie, an impressive array of home made cured meats and other goodies. Apart from the tasty bresaola, Prosciutto and Chorizo, there was a rich, smooth chicken liver parfait, sweet onion jam, and I had my first ever taste of both duck gizzard and lambs tongue. Thankfully both went down very easily, and in fact were very much enjoyed!

Entrée also included a terrific salad of pickled pear, beetroot, goats curd, baby spinach and candied walnut – but we were so stuffed by the time it arrived, we saved it for main course.
And the main course was equally impressive. Roasted pork loin, with crunchy salty crackling, potato, braised cabbage and chargrilled apple – gorgeous subtle flavours, and a really generous serve – couldn’t bring myself to get through the entire serve.

Wine not included in that $45, so I drank the Ingram Road Yarra Valley Pinot Noir at $10 a glass.

The Pita Lounge 

Described as a Mediterranean experience, but certainly with a Bosnian bent, Pita Lounge owner Sam is a former Airforce pilot turned chef, and he’s proud owner of what is possibly the first SAC cooker in Melbourne. A SAC is a traditional type of dish designed to mimic the old campfires, and its contents are cooked by the coals burning hotly underneath and over it, which are continually stokes and replenished. Hence, when the SAC is a’cookin’, the Pita Lounge smells fabulous!

So, for the Roast Collection, Sam is offering a traditional Bosnian SAC roast. It starts with burek, those lovely soft, hand stretched pastry – in this case three different varieties – cheese, spinach and cheese or meat and onion (go the meat, yum!). Course two is the main event, it’s the veal and vegies that have been cooking over those coals, both of which positively melt in your mouth. It’s got that rich, warming, home-cooked taste to it, and it’s served with simple fresh salad and warm chargrilled pita. Half the fun is seeing Sam come round with his giant pan on wheels to dish it out.

Dessert is almost pointless after this hearty feed, but it comes regardless, in the form of traditional pastries – baklava, kataifi, a supersweet biscuit/cake and more than I didn’t dare even feast my eyes on, served with tea, coffee or hot chocolate it’s a perfect end to the evening.

Tucked away in a street beside the Dandenong rail line, the Pita Lounge is a bit of a hidden gem. There’s just one more of these authentic dinners to go as part of the Roast Collection, and it’ll take place on Saturday 25th June.  No liquor licence as yet, so it was soft drink and water for us, this event at $60 is obviously a bit pricier than the other two, but then it surely is a unique experience so will no doubt be great for those who live in the South East and feel like something a bit different.