If you love cauliflower cheese, don't miss this ‘crazy-fun' version, Melbourne
Freyja was good from the get-go, but it has relaxed and grown into one of the city's leading restaurants.
Previous SlideNext Slide
What do you feel like for dinner? Three years after opening, this elegant city restaurant has reshaped its nighttime offering to meet your whims. Tell your waiter your deepest dining fantasies and they'll prepare a $99 set-price meal to suit. Maybe you're feeling extra-carnivorous. Perhaps you want to be surprised. Or, possibly, you feel as I did: 'Lots of vegetables, maybe seafood, I love pickles.'
Freyja is in the Olderfleet Building, an 1890 beauty in the Venetian Gothic style with striking, pointed arches. As you enter, the open kitchen with woodfire is to the left and the dining room is to the right with tones in dark green, leather and exposed brick, and artwork that my notes describe as 'scary'. Please drink enough water that you need to visit the toilet in the new build at rear: the soaring atrium is heart-stopping.
'The food feels relaxed and generous. It's more 'My god, that's good' than 'Ooh, how clever!''
Chef Jae Bang is Korean, but when Freyja opened, he'd just spent three years leading Re-Naa in Norway, which earned its second Michelin star on his watch, and the Melbourne venue leaned into Norse mythology and cuisine. The goddess Freyja is associated with beauty, love and magic; the food was precise, using preserving techniques to layer flavour.
Bang also brought influences from his stints in junior roles at game-changing Spanish restaurants El Bulli and Arzak, plus time in New York under fine-dining master Daniel Boulud. From the beginning, you could tell he was accomplished and thoughtful.
Over time, Nordic notions have eased and the food feels relaxed and generous. It's more 'My god, that's good' than 'Ooh, how clever!'
Oysters are dotted with a green oil that turns out to be lovage kombucha. Kohlrabi is pickled and served with goat curd, fermented blackcurrant and kelp powder. Beef tartare uses green strawberries for tart acid (instead of, say, cornichons). The Ramarro farm salad name-checks a producer in the Dandenong Ranges: Freyja takes what's growing and turns it into a micro-seasonal expression.
Skate – a flat fish that comes away in long strands – is in a light broth with unripe blueberries that have been salted as though they were capers. They're cool, clean, juicy and one of many examples of marginal produce elevated through creativity and preservation.
Cauliflower cheese is my favourite comfort meal. Freyja's version is the one I'd eat if a genie gave me a wish: it's a crazy-fun jumble of miso, butter, hazelnut and toasty roasted veg.
Dessert is a joyful plaiting of the seasons: macadamia ice-cream, fig leaf oil, plum syrup, white chocolate and puffed grains are a melange of sour, sweet, creamy and caramelised.
Freyja is owned by Florence Guild, a collective that includes WorkClub, a mostly Sydney-based, high-end, co-working company with speaker events and activities, including calligraphy and dream mapping. The company runs a few cafes and a bar, but Freyja is its only restaurant.
The service here is keen and polished: our waiter chooses a great wine and does a lovely job of steering us through the choose-your-own-adventure concept which, let's be honest, is a stretch. After all, isn't a menu already a way to tell the kitchen what you feel like eating?
The bespoke promise doesn't exactly play out, either. Nearby tables have many of the same dishes and they're also available at lunch, which is still a la carte.
Having said that, everything is so delicious I don't care how it gets in front of me. Freyja was good from the get-go, but there was a slightly strained feeling. Now it has grown into one of the city's leading restaurants.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Try the Tiktok-famous tissue bread – and kiss your troubles goodbye – at this boutique bakery
I'm here to kiss my troubles goodbye, however briefly, by tackling the bakery's version of 'tissue bread', which is something of a TikTok sensation. Made by baking laminated croissant dough in a square baking tin, the crunchy edged fist-sized cube reveals gauzy layers of soft pastry when pulled apart. Buttered also loads its tissue bread with chocolate, matcha, pistachio and flavours, plus a particularly marvellous lemon meringue. The plain, pistachio and matcha varieties (I have many troubles to farewell) work surprisingly well dipped into Buttered's frothy Signature Velvet sweet corn drink. It's essentially a corn-flavoured latte, although there are other (much) sweeter flavours including butterscotch, royal chestnut and dalgona, or ppopgi, the traditional Korean honeycomb-flavoured treat made famous in the Netflix series Squid Game. The counter also holds perfect rows of the signature 'Salty Boi' − salt bread, aka sogeum-ppang. It looks like a cross between a croissant and a dinner roll, made by baking a finger-sized log of salted butter into a coil of cold-fermented dough. The added butter creates a crispy base below the roll's crunchy exterior and soft filling. Pocked with several air holes, the Salty Boi accommodates a lavish spree of sweet and savoury fillings. The most luscious filling is potato, egg and mayo, followed by butter-glistening garlic cheese. A corn cheese version is swoony and plump and has a lovely pop of sweetness against the bread's saltiness. (That saltiness comes from the salted butter, by the way, not from extra sodium in the dough.) One of the most popular lunch items is the ham, tomato, lettuce and wasabi-mayo Salty Boi. Thanks to the seasoned bread, it's a va-va-voom improvement on the average meat and salad roll.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Try the Tiktok-famous tissue bread – and kiss your troubles goodbye – at this boutique bakery
I'm here to kiss my troubles goodbye, however briefly, by tackling the bakery's version of 'tissue bread', which is something of a TikTok sensation. Made by baking laminated croissant dough in a square baking tin, the crunchy edged fist-sized cube reveals gauzy layers of soft pastry when pulled apart. Buttered also loads its tissue bread with chocolate, matcha, pistachio and flavours, plus a particularly marvellous lemon meringue. The plain, pistachio and matcha varieties (I have many troubles to farewell) work surprisingly well dipped into Buttered's frothy Signature Velvet sweet corn drink. It's essentially a corn-flavoured latte, although there are other (much) sweeter flavours including butterscotch, royal chestnut and dalgona, or ppopgi, the traditional Korean honeycomb-flavoured treat made famous in the Netflix series Squid Game. The counter also holds perfect rows of the signature 'Salty Boi' − salt bread, aka sogeum-ppang. It looks like a cross between a croissant and a dinner roll, made by baking a finger-sized log of salted butter into a coil of cold-fermented dough. The added butter creates a crispy base below the roll's crunchy exterior and soft filling. Pocked with several air holes, the Salty Boi accommodates a lavish spree of sweet and savoury fillings. The most luscious filling is potato, egg and mayo, followed by butter-glistening garlic cheese. A corn cheese version is swoony and plump and has a lovely pop of sweetness against the bread's saltiness. (That saltiness comes from the salted butter, by the way, not from extra sodium in the dough.) One of the most popular lunch items is the ham, tomato, lettuce and wasabi-mayo Salty Boi. Thanks to the seasoned bread, it's a va-va-voom improvement on the average meat and salad roll.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
The old Leederville restaurant that deserves more attention
Duende has been around the block. Launched by local luminary Nic Trimboli, Perth's first Spanish tapas restaurant took over the space on an isthmus between Newcastle Street and Carr Place in Leederville previously occupied by Eminem — the much-lauded Turkish eatery, not the Detroit rapper — waaaaay back in 2003. That's so long ago the current crop of Perth food influencers were still blogging in their nappies or hitting child care for free canapes and bubbly milk when Duende served its first pimientos de padron and patatas bravas. Once considered among Perth's hottest restaurants, this joint has seen some action, and it shows. The decor is dated, menus arrive on clipboards, and the booths need new upholstery. A small fan rattled away on the bar, while daggy dance-pop blared away. Duende is Spanish for 'passion and inspiration'. At first glance, both seemed to be sorely lacking when my wife and I made a long overdue return to this Leederville mainstay for dinner on a Thursday evening. Duende tapas bar, Leederville. Credit: Supplied Duende tapas bar, Leederville Credit: Simon Collins When we walked past the chalkboards and into Duende, we were the only customers. Ay, no! By the time we left at about 8pm, only two other tables were occupied. Double ay, no! If this review achieves one thing, I hope it helps Duende return to the top of the pops. The food is banging — like, Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca banging — and the wine list has some mic-drop-worthy Spanish drops at prices that don't seem to have moved since Duende opened. Credit for the fantastic, mostly authentic, tapas goes to Indian-born chef Remya Geminiani, who grew up in Modena, Italy. The 'Italian pocket rocket', as she is described on the venue's socials, started a chef's apprenticeship when she was 14 years old, and was ducking flying frying pans in four-star hotel restaurants at 18. Chicken and chorizo paella at Duende tapas bar in Leederville. Credit: Supplied Geminiani trained and worked in kitchens across the Canary Islands, focusing on traditional techniques and Mediterranean flavours for five years before following her heart Down Under in 2016. She worked as head chef at a Melbourne cafe for four years before moving to Margaret River for a stint at Voyager Estate, where she refined her skills and built know-how around fermentation, smoking, and seasonal WA produce. While she only joined Duende in April, Geminiani has already had an impact. She's clearly a gem, and Phil Crocker, who bought the Leederville diner in 2013, did well to recruit her. Service was sharp. A lovely glass of cava and sangria, full to the brim, lobbed on the table within minutes of us plonking down on a table for four. (We had plenty of room, the waiter said.) Later we shared a brilliant bottle of Spanish wine, a Murcia-style blending monastrell and cabernet sauvignon grapes that was on special for $40. What year is it again? The padron peppers at Leederville tapas bar Duende. Credit: Supplied Duende also has signature cocktails with an Iberian twist, plus gin and tonics, spirits, and a decent roster of sherries. I remembered why I never drive home from this place. Speaking of specials, we decided to start with the chorizo de vino tino ($26), a flame-grilled fancy mini-snagger from Northbridge's Torre Butchers in red wine reduction served with charred bread. The chorizo was rich, quite gamey, and delicious. The champinones ($22), or mushrooms marinated in Pedro Ximenez sherry, were served with blue cheese and candied walnuts. A champion dish, you could really taste the PX in the mushies, which were served warm in a ceramic ramekin. A must-have dish. Gambas ajillo ($26), or prawns cooked in garlic, chilli and white wine, at Duende. Credit: Supplied Padron peppers are a staple of tapas for a good reason, and the pimiento de padron ($22) at Duende is excellent. Perhaps they could've been scorched more for that blackened, blistered skin but they were juicy and rested on a fresh herb mayonnaise with snow pea tendrils and oil — and radishes. Chef Geminiani has a thing for radishes. Where other Perth chefs overuse fried shallots, Duende's head chef popped thinly sliced radishes on almost everything bar the dessert, my sangria, and the bill. Clearly, Big Radish has got to her. After those three small plates, we ordered the chicken and chorizo paella ($22) and gambas ajillo ($26) — six delicious, well-charred prawns cooked in garlic, chilli and white wine. Another tasty winner, the small paella had as much chook and chorizo as rice. I like a bit of spice in my rice, so I asked for a hot sauce. Maybe Tabasco, if they had it. The chef whipped up a chilli sauce that was bang-on, and nearly lifted my head off. Luckily, I had some red plonk to calm my palate. The chocolate mousse at Leederville tapas bar Duende. Credit: Supplied The chocolate mousse with vanilla ice-cream and berry coulis was rich and sticky. Blackberries hid inside the smooth choccy, while more PX syrup made this a grown-up dessert. We shared a sherry drier than Hacks comedy diva Deborah Vance to really kick this home, while my wife commandeered the spoon. Daggy decor, bad dance music . . . who cares? The food rocked my socks off. I may never wear shoes again. Duende isn't the only tapas joint in Perth. It's not even the only one in Leederville. But it might be the best. To quote Eminem, the Detroit rapper, not the Turkish eatery, 'guess who's back'. Duende 662 Newcastle Street, Leederville OPEN Wednesday-Sunday, noon-late. CONTACT 9228 0123, BOOKINGS Yes THE VERDICT Hola! Plot a return to Perth's original tapas joint. New head chef Remya Geminiani has it back on track and banging with superb small dishes and great-value wines. Don't drive. 16.5/20
