where's the best in 2021?

   

Luther's Scoops

As the calendar flips to a new year, I review the past year's blog posts and update our where's the best? page. This was a second year shaped by the COVID pandemic, with lots of time spent at home and only sporadic opportunities to see friends, visit workplaces and restaurants, and to travel. We ventured to Castlemaine for a long weekend in January and had a safe, restorative trip to Queensland in April that was focused on seeing family and friends but also included lots of eating around West End.

Otherwise, we've been touring the local circuit of icecream shops! We're now reprising many of last summer's faves, including Billy van Creamy, Luther's Scoops, Icecream Social, Beku Gelato and Gelateria Bico. The nearby Gelato Messina outlet seems to have upgraded its status from pop-up to permanent so we'll aim to add that to our posts soon.

   

Masti

While I anticipated widespread restaurant closures and few new restaurant reports, this update required only five deletions (Maccaroni Osteria Italiana, Rue de Creperie, Tamil Feasts, Thanh Nga Nine, The Yarra Hotel) and included fifteen new-to-us eateries! We've brunched at Elektra, Wolfhound and Mabu Mabu; affirmed Gloria as a new favourite local; had great dinners at Big Esso, Ge'ez Ethiopian Restaurant, Leonardo's Pizza Palace, Masti, The Workers Club, and 113 Eatery; and had one very long, very special lunch at O.MY Restaurant.

Wattleseed and lemon myrtle have long been in our spice rack, and 2021 was a good year for getting to know some more native ingredients better. The gift of Warndu Mai (Good Food) Cookbook yielded a spectacular wattleseed and macadamia brownie recipe. We loved eating at Nornie Bero's restaurants Mabu Mabu and Big Esso, and I made many batches of her damper recipe, flavoured variously with saltbush, bush tomato, and wattleseed. 

Hetty McKinnon's To Asia, With Love was another favourite cooking resource. We're still holding off on blogging the recipes, since the book's still on sale and we think you should buy it, but we've been blogging and tweeting pics and mini-reviews. What a blessing that McKinnon's lemon tofu recipe is freely available online!

   

Hetty McKinnon's miso oats with egg & avocado

Other new entries to our dinner rotation are quick carrot dal and herby zucchini and peas with semolina porridge. We've just made the chipotle-brushed potato tian twice in eight days so that's earned a best-of spot too. 2020's orange, yoghurt and cardamom cake and peanut butter miso cookies became repeat bakes and firm favourites in 2021. I improved an already-perfect slice (tell me that's impossible after you've tried it!), and recently had fun with a novel miso caramel cake.

It's hard to tell what's coming up in 2021 but if it involves good eating, we'll be sure to let you know.

   

That slice