Hey, Southsiders. It's your turn to travel with your tastebuds.

1. INDONESIA » Garam Merica, Albert Park

Corina Tan is originally from Tengal in Central Java, so you’ll find a lot of dishes on her menu that taste like home. She delivers across a broad range of suburbs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, well beyond her Albert Park base (check Instagram stories for details). Weekly specials are also shared to Instagram highlights: look for nasi citarasa platters of different regional dishes and condiments served on banana leaves with coconut rice (single serves also available), as well as my personal favourite, sego gudeg mercon (stewed young jackfruit with egg, beef skin, tofu and chicken on rice with a chilli kick).If you’re celebrating, there’s an off-menu tumpeng that feeds six people for $120 – a ceremonial dish of yellow turmeric rice fashioned into a cone with eight dishes ranging from ayam bakar (grilled chicken) and empal gepuk suwir (sweet beef floss) to telor balado (chilli eggs) and mie goreng fried noodles. If you’re interested, you can watch Corina cook tomorrow September 27 at 3pm with William Wongso on Instagram live (William is the godfather of Indonesian cuisine. You might recognise him from Netflix’s first Street Food series or as the cheeky fellow giving Gordon Ramsay a hard time in Unchartered).71 Queens Road, Albert Park, 03 8529 5246, garammerica.com

2. RUSSIA » Nevsky, Elsternwick

Perhaps it's my Eastern European heritage, but I crave borscht and herring the way someone else might have a hankering for pizza. There aren't a lot of real-deal Russian restaurants in Melbourne, but Nevsky is one of them. Borscht with the obligatory dollop of sour cream comes in small and large portions ($6 and $10), along with soups like gorohoviy (smoked ham hock and split pea) and kharcho (a spicy lamb, coriander, tomato and rice soup from Georgia). Other starters include lightly fried lamb's brains, pelmeni dumplings, piroshki filled pastries and blinchiki crepes, followed by hearty mains like stroganoff, golubtsi stuffed cabbage rolls and sosiski Polish kransky sausages on mash. If you're not pinching pennies, add 28 grams of sturgeon caviar with buttered blinis to your order. During COVID, takeaway banquet menus are discounted and a la carte food is 20 per cent off when you call direct and pick up.476 Glen Huntly Road, Elsternwick, 03 9530 0012, nevsky.com.au

3. THAILAND » OzzyThai, St Kilda & South Yarra

I was first drawn to OzzyThai because it’s next to a brothel at the intersection of St Kilda Road and Fitzroy Street. Let me elaborate – the location is so awkward, I figured the food had to be good for it to have remained open. Run by Terry and Sopa Knowles since 2016, a second outlet opened at the bottom of a residential tower in South Yarra at the start of 2020. Aside from $12.90 Thai curry and rice meal packs, there are warm salads like larb, bamboo shoot and yum woon sen bean thread noodles; mains like fragrant pla ka pong pad khun chai (deep-fried barramundi with celery, ginger and bean paste) and goong ob woon sen (clay pot prawns with bean thread noodles). Traditional desserts such as kha nom thuay (coconut milk custard set in porcelain dishes) and bua loy taro dumplings in coconut milk are also up for grabs. The menu is a touch smaller in South Yarra, but there’s still plenty to choose from, plus a few extras.34 St Kilda Road, St Kilda, 03 9529 7289Shop 1b, 7 Yarra Street, South Yarra, 03 8840 9930ozzythai.com.au

4. POLAND » Truffles Patisserie, St Kilda & Cheltenham

You'd be forgiven for thinking this patisserie only specialises in cakes, but you would also be missing out on the opportunity for a traditional Polish feast. Owners Aleksandra and Jarek Janczewski, formerly involved in the iconic Europa Cake Shop, opened the St Kilda cafe five years ago. Buried within the brekkie menu between eggs benedict and filled croissants are smoked salmon blintzes, bigos (hunters' stew with Polish sausage), cabbage rolls and my personal favourite, flaczki (ox tripe soup). There’s also duck with mash and red cabbage, lamb shank and beef cheek – ideal for rainy days in lockdown. Stock up the freezer with sweet and savoury pierogi, perhaps sour cherry or sauerkraut and mushroom. Delivery is free for orders of $50+ within 10 kilometers of St Kilda and Cheltenham. Pick up available at St Kilda.192/194 Carlisle Street, St Kilda, 03 9042 1889Factory 32/94-102 Keys Road, Cheltenham, 03 9939 4088 trufflespatisserie.com.au

5. JAPAN » Monou Restaurant, South Melbourne

This contemporary Japanese restaurant has gone back to its roots during COVID. Usually its refined dishes see the best of Japanese and Australian ingredients arranged beautifully on the plate, but for now the takeaway menu (also delivered via Uber Eats) showcases omurice (egg omelette and rice dishes) and ramen. Omu rice comes with teriyaki chicken or eel, Japanese tonkatsu pork curry, wagyu beef curry, wagyu steak with garlic butter or teriyaki salmon with scallop and bechamel. There are three miso ramen bases to choose from: butter miso, spicy miso or vegan miso. You'll pat yourself on the back if you take home one of the kitchen's fruit-infused sakes. Tiny KUU Cafe down the road, owned by the same husband-and-wife team, is worth a look, too.274 Park Street, South Melbourne, 03 9699 4043, monou.com.au

6. ISRAEL » Hilulim Restaurant

Hilulim is a dream come true for chef and owner Ravit Gabai. She opened this kosher neighbourhood restaurant in 2014 to share her family’s food with strangers – it’s her way of “celebrating life, food and exploration with (her) customers”. With a Yemenite father and Persian mother, Ravit’s dishes are vibrant, colourful and comforting, just the cure during COVID. Order a litre of Persian kubbeh soup with meat-filled semolina and bulgur dumplings, stuffed Mediterranean vegetables, mafrum (layered meat and potato), Moroccan fish with vegetables, an array of dips and salads, majardra (rice with onions and lentils) and more. Follow the Facebook page for specials like lamb kofta, brisket and chicken livers with onion. Note that Hilulim is currently only open every Friday from 9am to 3pm. Call or text to order.154 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield North, 03 9523 5909 or 0452 288 445, facebook.com/hilulim

7. COLOMBIA » La Colombianita

35 York Street, South Melbourne, text or call 0415 254 331 or 0402 911 261, facebook.com/lacolombianita.au

8. MALAYSIA » Ipoh Parade, Armadale

Everyone has a local Malaysian joint, but some are better than others. Enter Ipoh Parade on High Street. What first caught my eye at this no-frills spot was a sign on the window advertising the Sunday special of popiah (oversized, fresh spring rolls) and rojak (fruit and vegetable salad in a sweet, sour and sticky sauce). There’s an extensive menu of crowd-pleasers (all the curries, spring rolls and S&P calamari), but the Malaysian classics is where Ipoh Parade shines. Think mini lobak (pork rolls wrapped in bean curd), achar pickled vegetables, roti canai with curry, sambal ikan bilis (spicy dried anchovies), rendang, laksa, asam pedas (fish fillet in sour, aromatic tamarind), homemade tofu with minced pork, nasi lemak with rendang or chicken curry, ho fun flat rice noodles in egg sauce and more. Apologies to any locals who were hoping to keep this one to themselves – it’s time to share.1148 High Street, Armadale, 03 9509 8916, ipohparade.com.au

9. GUANGZHOU & SICHUAN » Sun Kitchen

Sun Kitchen opened last year overlooking Albert Park Lake in the spot previously occupied by The Point. While the kind of restaurants I cover often have a lower price point, not only is the Cantonese and Sichuan food at Sun Kitchen legit, it also challenges the icky notion that Asian food should be cheap to be good. That said, you can easily order so you don’t break the bank. A lot of people have been craving yum cha during lockdown, and Sun Kitchen has you sorted with steamed buns shaped like little piggies and pandas, stir-fried turnip cake in XO, chicken feet and classic dumplings.There are Mid-Autumn specials available until October 1 (the Heavenly Package feeds three to four for $268), plus an $88 afternoon tea set for two from Friday to Saturday that includes fusion triangle sandwiches, desserts, buns and menu favourites. A la carte, I love the hot and sour mung bean noodles, sliced beef and offal drenched in spicy peanut sauce, stewed fish fillets in hot chilli oil (or pickled vegetable broth) and the XO seafood fried rice. Click the "Art" section on the website to buy a $9 edible sugar painting and support a temporary visa holder in the process.9 Aquatic Drive, Albert Park, 03 9682 5566, sun-kitchen.com

10. HUNGARY » The Little Hungarian

If you’ve ever heard the phrase “Schnitz ‘n’ Tits”, it’s thanks to Elizabeth Csulka, the Budapest-born chef-owner behind The Little Hungarian. The Jewish community has followed her from Blue Danube on Acland Street in the ‘80s and topless nights at New Market hotel in the mid-'90s (you either told your wife you were there just for the schnitzels or date night coincided with Schnitz ’n’ Tits), to this restaurant she’s called her own since 2005. Her famously giant schnitzels remain on the menu (I prefer mine with creamed spinach and potatoes in place of chips and salad), along with matzah ball soup, goulashes served with pork and sauerkraut or beef and nokedli, cabbage rolls, chicken livers and chicken paprikash (paprika). Check the Facebook menu for nightly specials. Free delivery within five kilometers.708 Glen Huntly Road, Caulfield South, 03 9523 6032, thelittlehungarian.com.au

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