09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
No menu, no worries: this Melbourne eatery transports you around the world
With all the must-see restaurants, bakeries and sandwich shops serving irresistible morsels, "I've been eating all day, I can't fit in another bite," goes the Melbourne visitor's frequent refrain.
In Victoria's capital, where iconic restaurants pepper each main street and back alley, it can be tricky to know where to start. But there's one new restaurant making the paralysis of choice just a little easier to handle.
At Freyja, diners are simply asked if there's anything they don't eat, won't eat or shouldn't eat before the dishes start rolling to the table. The secretive menu gives guests a chance to release control of the dining experience and let one of the city's most talented chefs bring plate after plate of seasonal, boundary-pushing food.
As a young chef, Jae Bang travelled from Seoul to sleep outside Ferran Adria's modernist El Bulli restaurant on Spain's Costa Brava until he was given a chance to cook. He worked his way through some of the most respected kitchens in the US, Europe and Asia before moving to Melbourne in 2022 and opening Freyja.
The restaurant, in one of the CBD's beautiful Gothic and Romanesque buildings, is a reflection of Chef Bang's career. He isn't constrained by cuisine, blending earthy Middle Eastern spices such as ras el hanout with Asian flavours like tangy makrut lime.
The meal starts with an oyster from Boomer Bay and a silky paté dotted with blackberries. Crusty sourdough mops up mussels in a delicate, buttery sauce before beef tartare with nasturtium hits the table. Chef Bang keeps the palate dancing when he serves melt-in-the-mouth pork ribs, roast cauliflower and a beet salad.
Inside the arched cathedral windows of Freyja is a classic Melbourne dining experience that tells the story of the city and its bakers, farmers, butchers and winemakers.
With all the must-see restaurants, bakeries and sandwich shops serving irresistible morsels, "I've been eating all day, I can't fit in another bite," goes the Melbourne visitor's frequent refrain.
In Victoria's capital, where iconic restaurants pepper each main street and back alley, it can be tricky to know where to start. But there's one new restaurant making the paralysis of choice just a little easier to handle.
At Freyja, diners are simply asked if there's anything they don't eat, won't eat or shouldn't eat before the dishes start rolling to the table. The secretive menu gives guests a chance to release control of the dining experience and let one of the city's most talented chefs bring plate after plate of seasonal, boundary-pushing food.
As a young chef, Jae Bang travelled from Seoul to sleep outside Ferran Adria's modernist El Bulli restaurant on Spain's Costa Brava until he was given a chance to cook. He worked his way through some of the most respected kitchens in the US, Europe and Asia before moving to Melbourne in 2022 and opening Freyja.
The restaurant, in one of the CBD's beautiful Gothic and Romanesque buildings, is a reflection of Chef Bang's career. He isn't constrained by cuisine, blending earthy Middle Eastern spices such as ras el hanout with Asian flavours like tangy makrut lime.
The meal starts with an oyster from Boomer Bay and a silky paté dotted with blackberries. Crusty sourdough mops up mussels in a delicate, buttery sauce before beef tartare with nasturtium hits the table. Chef Bang keeps the palate dancing when he serves melt-in-the-mouth pork ribs, roast cauliflower and a beet salad.
Inside the arched cathedral windows of Freyja is a classic Melbourne dining experience that tells the story of the city and its bakers, farmers, butchers and winemakers.
With all the must-see restaurants, bakeries and sandwich shops serving irresistible morsels, "I've been eating all day, I can't fit in another bite," goes the Melbourne visitor's frequent refrain.
In Victoria's capital, where iconic restaurants pepper each main street and back alley, it can be tricky to know where to start. But there's one new restaurant making the paralysis of choice just a little easier to handle.
At Freyja, diners are simply asked if there's anything they don't eat, won't eat or shouldn't eat before the dishes start rolling to the table. The secretive menu gives guests a chance to release control of the dining experience and let one of the city's most talented chefs bring plate after plate of seasonal, boundary-pushing food.
As a young chef, Jae Bang travelled from Seoul to sleep outside Ferran Adria's modernist El Bulli restaurant on Spain's Costa Brava until he was given a chance to cook. He worked his way through some of the most respected kitchens in the US, Europe and Asia before moving to Melbourne in 2022 and opening Freyja.
The restaurant, in one of the CBD's beautiful Gothic and Romanesque buildings, is a reflection of Chef Bang's career. He isn't constrained by cuisine, blending earthy Middle Eastern spices such as ras el hanout with Asian flavours like tangy makrut lime.
The meal starts with an oyster from Boomer Bay and a silky paté dotted with blackberries. Crusty sourdough mops up mussels in a delicate, buttery sauce before beef tartare with nasturtium hits the table. Chef Bang keeps the palate dancing when he serves melt-in-the-mouth pork ribs, roast cauliflower and a beet salad.
Inside the arched cathedral windows of Freyja is a classic Melbourne dining experience that tells the story of the city and its bakers, farmers, butchers and winemakers.
With all the must-see restaurants, bakeries and sandwich shops serving irresistible morsels, "I've been eating all day, I can't fit in another bite," goes the Melbourne visitor's frequent refrain.
In Victoria's capital, where iconic restaurants pepper each main street and back alley, it can be tricky to know where to start. But there's one new restaurant making the paralysis of choice just a little easier to handle.
At Freyja, diners are simply asked if there's anything they don't eat, won't eat or shouldn't eat before the dishes start rolling to the table. The secretive menu gives guests a chance to release control of the dining experience and let one of the city's most talented chefs bring plate after plate of seasonal, boundary-pushing food.
As a young chef, Jae Bang travelled from Seoul to sleep outside Ferran Adria's modernist El Bulli restaurant on Spain's Costa Brava until he was given a chance to cook. He worked his way through some of the most respected kitchens in the US, Europe and Asia before moving to Melbourne in 2022 and opening Freyja.
The restaurant, in one of the CBD's beautiful Gothic and Romanesque buildings, is a reflection of Chef Bang's career. He isn't constrained by cuisine, blending earthy Middle Eastern spices such as ras el hanout with Asian flavours like tangy makrut lime.
The meal starts with an oyster from Boomer Bay and a silky paté dotted with blackberries. Crusty sourdough mops up mussels in a delicate, buttery sauce before beef tartare with nasturtium hits the table. Chef Bang keeps the palate dancing when he serves melt-in-the-mouth pork ribs, roast cauliflower and a beet salad.
Inside the arched cathedral windows of Freyja is a classic Melbourne dining experience that tells the story of the city and its bakers, farmers, butchers and winemakers.
