Dandelion restaurant

2012 Year of The Dragon

The period of celebration for the 2012 Lunar New Year (known as Tet), is about to begin on Sunday 22rd January. Geoff Lindsay’s Vietnamese inspired Dandelion, is joining the festivities with a special dinner on Sunday 29th January.

Tet is considered the biggest and most important festival in the Vietnamese calendar. It’s an occasion for families and friends to feast, pay respect to their ancestors, remove any bad luck from the past year and look to the future. Food is very important to the festival with families only preparing certain dishes during this time.

Salmon Ceviche tossed with pickled lotus roots, Viet mint & palm heart with crispy sesame and coconut rice papers.

To usher in the Year of The Dragon – guests can expect a visit from the Vietnamese dancing Lion to bestow prosperity and happiness to guests and bless the meal, as well as the firecrackers to ward off the evil spirits, Li Xi and other treats!

Geoff and new Dandelion recruit Jerry Mai have created a menu featuring re-workings of traditional Tet dishes at the fabulous price of $88 for 8 courses ($38 for children).

Read on for the Dandelion 2012 Tet menu:

Stuck for a gift ?

What do you buy the person who has everything ?

Dandelion gift certificates are a great gift idea.

Please call Daniella on 03 9531 4900 between 10 am & 4pm Monday to Friday to arrange.

Gift certificates can be collected or mailed to you.

Summer menu

Raw salmon and flying fish caviar with shredded granny smith apple and ponzu.

A recent visit to Vietnam has inspired me to create some fantastic new dishes for our summer menu.

Among my favourite dishes were The Bun Thit Nuong at Huyen Anh in Hue whichin one dish sums up the essence of what made me fall in love with Vietnamese food.

Essentially a dish of soft fresh noodle, grilled pork, rice paddy herbs, chilli, shredded banana blossom and fish sauce but oh! so much more. A street food dish that is created with such love, care and understanding that allows each individual ingredient its own space and to sing in harmony.

The new menu features my interpretations of both of these dishes and a general focus on the elegant flavours of Hanoi and Imperial cuisine of Hue where one Emperor demanded 50 dishes, cooked by 50 chefs, served by 50 servants for every meal.

New dishes we hope will compliment some firm favourites from our current menu.

In addition we have daily specials to enjoy and a new selection of family dishes and set menus.

See the new Summer menu here

Food & wine festival

The 2012 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is coming up soon and tickets are now on sale for our dinner by the fabulous chef Ms Vy from Morning Glory restaurant in Hoi An, Vietnam.

Ms Vy is one of the most renowned chefs in all of Vietnam and we are very excited to have her cooking in our Dandelion kitchen for one special evening.

Click here for further info

Summer wines

Our wine guy , Grant van Every writes:

Warmer weather means cooler wines, and not just temperature wise. Cool as in relaxing, not too serious, something to kick back and relax, you know …cool.

In winter we contemplate through the glass of thick bloody red whilst now we look at something pink or white that you simply enjoy hedonistically. Locally look at the uber cool Foster e Rocco Rose and ironically named Los Hermanos “La Tributo” from the ever innovative Crittenden family.

From the Northern Hemisphere look to the Di Lenardo Pinot Grigio which is fresh vibrant and just great with the rice paper roll selection.

Also we are very excited with our new pouring champers. Celebrate the Spring Carnival, impending end of year festivities or just life itself with a glass of the superb Gossett Brut Excellence.

Book online →

Dandelion is now open for dinner every night from 5.30 pm & lunch Thursday to Sunday. Bookings for up to six guests can be made online here.

"But, oh, the pho. With its deep, rich, complex broth, it’s the Rolls-Royce of pho…"

Larissa Dubecki, The Age

pho

Wagyu beef with raw sirloin and braised brisket pho.

"Dandelion is a restaurant that Melbourne, and maybe even Australia, has been waiting for"

John Lethlean, The Australian

Dandy kids are cool kids

Menu tasting now completed by the new generation of food reviewers. Lachie, Harry, Cooper and Indiana.

A tough committee even for a seasoned old chef like me. Lachie loved the BBQ ribs, Indiana the passion fruit ice cream, Cooper the sesame chicken wings and Harry gave a big thumbs up to the whole lot!

The kids menu is available for lunch & dinner 5.30 to 7.00pm.

Dish of the Year

Coconut grill barbeque spare ribs :

“The Good Food Guide’s Dish of the Year was right on-trend, a little bit dude and a whole lot of modern Asian - Dandelion’s barbecue spare ribs. Lindsay marinates them in coconut water with papaya seeds before grilling them over coconut, delivering meat that’s sweet and finger-licking good.”