EAT: South Wharf Restaurants Progressive Dinner
Ever been to a progressive dinner? Me either, and I have NO idea why. This was such an incredibly fun evening, and an awesome chance to experience the best eateries along South Wharf whilst also meeting new friends.
When we were offered the chance to try out the Progressive Dinner, there's no way we could say no. Not only is it a great way to test not 1 or 2 but FIVE hotspots along South Wharf, it's also a great way to meet people and mingle whilst in Melbourne.
We were met by our lovely host, Em, who was an absolutely wonderful host. He knew everything about each venue, explained each dish and made us all feel at home.
Our first stop was at Plus 5, a boutique cocktail, tapas and pizza bar that offers tasty wood-feed pizzas along an amazing array of artisan drinks. We were greeted with champagne cocktails (divine) and the biggest meat/cheese platter you've ever seen. The Plus 5 lounge often features live jazz and also has Whisky Wednesdays - yes please!
Next we moved on to BangPop for an appetiser, where they have the world's coolest bar that's lined entirely with lego. The bar has loads of energy & excitement, and is known for it's authentic and genuine Thai dishes that are all made with seasonal ingredients that are either sourced locally or straight from Thailand. Head chef, Charlie Nitmaha, is an extremely talented man, and we were given a traditional Thai dish with a glass of wine. The dish was ALMOST too pretty to eat, but I pretty much inhaled it as it was so delicious.
After the taste sensation at BangPop, we moved on to Japanese restaurant Akachochin. These guys do amazing, authentic Japanese food, but they're really famous for their speciality sake... they have over 50 different varieties! We were treated to their famous kingfish rice cracker dish and paired it with a divine sake that complemented the fish perfectly. Akachochin has a really friendly environment, and their customary Izakaya ways mean you'll always feel welcomed.
We then moved on to Meat Market for our main meal, which is known as Victoria's hotspot for the best meat in the state. The reason I loved Meat Market? They source their meat from ethical producers in Victoria - I absolutely love supporting local. The dish we had was INSANE. Perfectly cooked beef in a snail & truffle pate... YES, it sounds odd but my goodness it was amazing. Salty and sweet at the same time. Paired with a matching red wine, it was the perfect main.
Of course, no meal is complete without dessert, so we headed over to Bohemian to satisfy our sweet tooth. Bohemian is a Spanish influenced restaurant and bar that has a pretty insane dessert & cocktail menu, as well as Spanish favourites like Paella, tapas and house-made chorizo. I had a popcorn cocktail (legit tasted like liquid chocolate popcorn), and mum had a wine. For dessert we shared four dishes that were chocolate donuts, a rhubarb crumble, ginger & orange cake and then another super sweet, alcohol soaked cake with fresh cream. If you're feeling jealous after reading that sentence, you should be - THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS!
I would 100% go on another progressive dinner, and I'm already thinking about the next time I'm in Melbourne to book again! If you're interested in attending one yourself, or just want more information, you can check them out HERE.