Marmelo Restaurant Plates up Portuguese Fare With a Twist
Ross and Sunny Lusted’s latest restaurant is Portuguese… but not as you know it.
If you spend any time unpacking the history of different cuisines, it’s easy to fall down geographic rabbit holes. Those yolk-yellow custard tarts in Hong Kong, for example, have their origin in English pastries. Jump across to Macau and the custard tarts sport a burnt top, thanks to the influence of the Portuguese pastéis de nata. That pomodoro sauce you love in Rome? It wouldn’t exist without the Spanish bringing tomatoes to Europe from Central America. And without the Chinese, Japan wouldn’t have ramen. On it goes.
Chef Ross Lusted, of Sydney’s Woodcut and the now closed Bridge Room, is fascinated by the complexities of food heritage and brings that curiosity to Marmelo, his new fire-fuelled Melbourne restaurant that sits beside the boutique Melbourne Place Hotel on Russell Street. On paper, the 90-seater is Portuguese-influenced (marmelo is the Portuguese word for “quince”) but in reality it tells the story of centuries of trade and travel. “I’m South African and there was a lot of cinnamon and cloves and coriander in my parents’ cooking,” says Lusted, recalling the international influences on his homeland. His own global travels with his restaurateur wife, Sunny, will also shape the menu. “Marmelo isn’t going to be a traditional restaurant. We’re not in Portugal. Our tomatoes are different. Our sunshine is different.”
What that “different” looks and tastes like is translated in dishes such as wood-grilled southern calamari with green coriander seeds (a herb that migrated to Portugal from North Africa) and coal-cooked chicken served with “African spice”, notably chilli. Anchovies will be presented “silver service” but preserved in butter rather than oil, as older producers still do in Portugal. Nothing will be traditional exactly but everything will be thoughtfully reframed and delicious.
“I’ve wanted to make this restaurant for a long time and the more I travelled, the more obsessed with doing it I became,” says Lusted of the culinary melange. “It’s the food of my upbringing, my palate. It’s what I’m drawn to.”
