If you love cauliflower cheese, don't miss this ‘crazy-fun' version, Melbourne
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
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
KPop Demon Hunters smashes Netflix record and takes over global pop charts
If you want to spot the next big thing in pop, always follow the tween trail. Parents of under 12s knew a month ago the KPop Demon Hunters universe was primed for a pop culture takeover. Their kids are obsessed with the film, the songs, the art, the food, the outfits, the action scenes, the choreography, everything and anything KPop Demon Hunters. The Netflix film has had more than 130 million views globally since launching on June 20, becoming the most-watched animated movie ever on the streamer. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack claimed its fourth week at No.1 on the Australian charts this week and its songs 'Golden', 'Soda Pop', 'Your Idol', 'How It's Done', 'What it Sounds Like', 'Free' and 'Takedown' have taken up residence in the upper echelons of the singles chart. Those songs have generated a billion plays on Spotify alone and the film's fictional bands Huntr/x and Saja Boys have leapfrogged superstars BLACKPINK and BTS as the highest charting KPop groups on the US charts. Korean culture has exerted its influence on the zeigeist over the past five years with K-pop, K-dramas and K-films from BTS and Stray Kids, BLACKPINK and Twice, Squid Games and the Oscar-winning movie Parasite. But Kpop Demon Hunters has taken the phenomenon to the next level. A film not like the other ones KPop Demon Hunters is a truly original animated film - it's not a sequel or a comics adaptation or a washed-out imitation of Disney or Pixar formulas. But after its blockbuster success, you can bet there are already meetings about a sequel, TV series, stage musical and live adaptation treatment. Instead of your princesses or melodramatic animals or misunderstood kid as the main characters, you have two K-pop groups locked in a battle to save souls. The three members of Huntr/x - Rumi, Mira and Zoey - are the demon-hunting pop stars slaying their evil soul-sucking rivals, the Saja Boys led by hot guy Juni, with songs and swords. The film's Canadian-Korean co-director Maggie Kang has cleverly woven cultural touchstones throughout the film from concert glow-stick choreography to visiting the local traditional medicine clinic. Kpop Demon Hunters also pays homage to Korean folklore. Its scene-stealing tiger and magpie characters are inspired by minhwa folk art while the Saja Boys and their supernatural alter egos are loosely modelled on 'jeoseung saja,' Korea's version of the grim reaper. Kang and her co-director Chris Appelhans also wanted to create a new kind of female superhero. 'We've both wanted to see more relatable female characters, ones that are messy, act silly, make stupid faces, and we thought it would be especially refreshing to see that in the superhero space. It felt like a new take on the female superhero,' she said. All killer, no filler soundtrack The filmmakers got their music dream team on board early, wanting to fuse Kpop bangers with the traditions of theatrical musicals - without, thankfully, the characters singing dialogue. The songwriting and production credits are the who's who of Kpop chart-toppers, led by BLACKPINK producer Terry Park and his THEBLACKLABEL hit factory of writers as well as Grammy-nominated and winning producers Lindgren, Stephen Kirk, Jenna Andrews who had worked on music for K-pop artists such as BTS and Twice. The soundtrack's first single was the end credits version of 'Takedown' performed by Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung of girl group Twice, who just announced four arena concerts in Sydney and Melbourne in November. But the film's central song 'Golden' is proving the runaway hit, unseating Justin Bieber from No.1 on the ARIA singles chart this week and amassing more than 215 million Spotify streams over the past six weeks. Demon Hunters' executive music producer Ian Eisendrath said the filmmakers took the opposite approach to film musicals when creating the soundtrack. 'In film musicals, you are often hiring people who specialise in narrative writing,' he told Billboard. 'This was interesting because it was sort of the opposite. It was bringing in people from the pop world to write for the film, as opposed to people from the film world to write in the style of K-pop.' There's already a campaign afoot for an Oscar nomination for Best Song. Something for everyone The film isn't just a godsend for parents seeking family-friendly content. It's got the goods there with the perennial PG narrative of Rumi's struggle for self-acceptance. But it's kid cult following has quickly broadened into other creative communities. The animation style has inspired thousands of fan art and DIY costume posts while TikTok and YouTube are flooded with dance workouts and challenges and cover versions of Demon Hunters' songs. Critics have also hailed the film's comedic thread as it skewers the much-maligned K-pop training system and singing competitions and K-drama tropes.
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- The Advertiser
Hulk Hogan's cause of death revealed
Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG
The Advertiser
4 days ago
- The Advertiser
Hulk Hogan died from heart attack, say examiners
Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack last week, according to a Florida medical examiner's report. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, previously had leukemia and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm, the report from the District Six Medical Examiner said on Thursday. Hogan, 71, was pronounced dead at a hospital less than 90 minutes after medics arrived at his home in Clearwater, Florida to answer a call about a cardiac arrest on the morning of July 24, police said. His representatives confirmed at the time: "Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning. "We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend." Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May and had been subject to rumours his health was in decline. Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE's long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon. with BANG
