Dan Hunter, Daniel Puskas and Daniel Wilson are taking a break from three of the country’s best restaurants for their take nostalgic, diner-style comfort food at MFWF this March.
The magic of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF) is in creating connections we never knew we needed. This year from March 15 to 24, two of the great modern wine bars, London’s Noble Rot and Melbourne’s Marion, are joining forces. Sam Tran of Hanoi’s Michelin-starred Gia is dishing up a 10-course collab with Aru chef Nico Koevoets. Dan Hong of Sydney’s Mr Wong is getting the Pidapipó treatment. And, topping our list, three of the country’s greatest chefs – Dan Hunter, Daniel Puskas and Daniel Wilson – are lending their culinary expertise to Dan’s Diner, our nostalgic, ’50s-inspired pop-up. Plus, there’s a cocktail list by Daniel Docherty from Collingwood bar Commis. It is, as they say, all happening.
While the one-off dinners for each of our Dans sold out in record time, Dan’s Diner will be running a collaborative diner menu available for walk-ins whenever you need a little pick-me-up. The all-day menu will see our supergroup chef trio serving up old-school comfort food, tweaked and heightened and moulded in their own image. For many, it could be your once-in-a-lifetime chance to chow down on fine-dining level food by each of the Dans at diner prices. With barely-contained excitement, we spoke with each of our Dan’s Diner stars to find out what inspired their menus and how their unique style shines through.
Birregurra restaurant Brae is lightyears beyond your typical restaurant while remaining firmly rooted in tradition. Led by chef Dan Hunter, the Brae team cultivates 20 acres of land around the restaurant for most of the ingredients on the menu, meaning dishes are seasonal and hyper-local, as well as being wildly inventive. Brae has been a three-hat restaurant for a decade now, and a hot-ticket spot for anyone who counts food among their serious passions, so it’s no stretch to call it one of Australia’s very best. The chance to see one of the nation’s best chefs in casual diner mode, then, is pretty special.
For his all-day menu, Dan has packed in comforting classics while keeping a hint of the Brae treatment. “I’ll be bringing some local flavours to diner classics while still ensuring I keep one foot in the produce and seasonal camp, which is where I usually play,” he says. You’ll find dishes like pork and venison meatloaf, a pancake short stack with bacon and serrano honey and optional smoked eel butter, a side of disco fries with eggplant and chicken gravy, and a banana split with gooey spiced rum caramel, all inspired by the idea of proper diner food with a little quality boost.
“The idea, ultimately, is to best represent what might be on a menu when you eat at a really good diner, “ says Dan. “It’s no fuss, hopefully fun and doesn’t require lots of commitment from the guest. I thought about what I’d like to eat with some friends, or alone, and then tried to incorporate a bit of the Dan-at-Brae sensibility of using ingredients that speak of our place and flavours I’m confident with, while keeping deliciousness front and centre.”
At $360 per head, Brae might be a little pricey for regular bites. Even though it’s a short-lived pop-up, Dan’s diner menu is built for regulars. “If you could eat at this diner year round, I think you would want to,” he says.
And while his focus has been on his own diner menu, Dan has an eye on what his fellow chef Dans will be dishing up. “I’m very much looking forward to Dan Wilson’s peach pie and yuzu colada spider, and it would be hard to go past Dan Puskas’ fish burger.”
At Melbourne’s fire-driven Japanese eatery Yakimono, chef Daniel Wilson strikes a balance between tradition and the fun of doing things his own way. “We use Japanese ingredients and put our own spin on them,” he says. “So, I think there's a lot of synergy between that and the concept of Dan's Diner taking basic diner-style dishes and zhuzhing them up to be a bit more modern.”
For his Dan’s Diner menu, Daniel is drawing his inventive Yakimono styling together with the warm hug of classic diner dishes. There’s fried chicken and buttermilk waffles with togarashi-infused maple syrup, hash browns topped with Yarra Valley salmon caviar and finger lime, a wagyu patty melt with Bloody Mary-spiced crispy onions, and a fully vegan Cobb salad.
“They are real comfort foods, but I’m using them to highlight some awesome Victorian produce like salmon caviar and wagyu beef,” Daniel says. “And being a bit playful as well, like adding the Bloody Mary seasoning to the onions. That’s taking the flavours from a Bloody Mary, using tomato powder in the seasoning, and you're making it a bit spicy so it counteracts the richness of the patty melt.”
On the sweeter side, Daniel has reimagined the classic peach cobbler in doughnut form. “We’re taking a classic southern dessert you might find in a diner and repurposing it into something that's easily handheld,” he says.. And the salty-sweet combo of fried chicken and waffles is getting the Yakimono treatment with the addition of shichimi togarashi, a spicy Japanese chilli blend. “The waffles, chicken and maple syrup are all quite rich, and maple syrup is sweet, so a bit of chilli in there gives it a bit more punch and gets the tastebuds enlightened,” Daniel says.
“I have never been a part of MFWF, but watching what happens every year on social media is always really fun,” says Daniel Puskas. “You get that feeling of wanting to be a part of it, either as an attendee or being asked to come down and cook something fun.”
Everything’s coming together for Dan, chef of Sydney’s three-hatted Sixpenny. There, Daniel has created an intimate fine-dining spot devoted to local produce. With his Dan’s Diner menu, he’s blending not just his own fine dining influences with casual diner styling, but also cross-cultural cuisines, too.
Starting with an Italian-American theme, Daniel is revisiting a classic appetiser – mozzarella sticks with a red-sauce dipper. “When I think of mozzarella sticks I think fried, crunchy crumb and hot gooey cheese,” he says. “I would just love to play with that idea but using really good quality soft mozzarella and only flash-frying for a few minutes so it's a little gooey, but you still get the quality of the mozzarella.”
You’ll also get the chance to revisit a 2020 lockdown classic, with Daniel bringing Sixpenny’s hallowed carrot cake along for the ride. “It was something we always did during the pandemic,” he says. “It's the classic carrot cake from [legendary American baker] Rose Levy and, in my opinion, one of the best cakes there is. I’ll just play around with the icing and candied nuts. What better way to finish than with a thick-cut piece of cake?” And trust is, that slice is thiiiiick.
Daniel’s menu also includes a crumbed fish burger with cheddar, lettuce, tartare sauce and eggplant relish that both of the other Dans listed as their most-anticipated dish, so look out! It’s fair to say, Dan is as excited to share his menu as we are to eat it. “It’s going to be good vibes, and casual and yummy food. I can't wait.”
Whether you’re keen on trying one-off menus from award-winning chefs or exploring the ins and outs of Victorian winemaking, we guarantee you’ll find something to sink your teeth into at Dan’s Diner. Swing by for a bev at the bar or settle into a booth for a feast – it’s a party either way and we can’t wait to see you.
Where: Dan’s Diner at Federation Square, Melbourne CBD
When: 15 to 24 March, open daily from 12pm for lunch, dinner and drinks (no ticket or booking required)
