Beer-friendly snacks include a sourdough pretzel (top right).Ed Sloane PhotographyZymurgy is the scientific study of fermentation,as well as the new inner-west eatery zeroing in on it. The latter iteration is a casual outdoor-first 100-seater beer garden,a collaboration between local craft brewers Hop Nation and chef Julian Hills from Navi,the ever-booked-out fine diner in nearby Yarraville.
Building a restaurant around fermentation may seem a bit fringe,until you consider all the foods and drinks that are fermented – alcohol,of course,but also sourdough,soy,miso,cheese,kimchi and kraut,yoghurt,chocolate,charcuterie,tea and coffee. Maybe a restaurant not obsessed with fermentation would be the weird move?
Kid-welcoming,dog-loving and 1.5-metre-spaced,Zymurgy is an Anglo-ish outlier in a strip that's more Indian and Filipino.
Prawns with 'nduja.Eddie JimHere since November, the action is down the side alley in a huge COVID-friendly rear compound,a place you could meet mates for malty middies,add a few (extra crunchy) chips,and suddenly find yourself munching on sweet,soft,sourdough pretzels with fermented finger lime and wagyu fat butter.
Or perhaps some charcoal-grilled king prawns dotted with'nduja,a Calabrian spicy,spreadable (fermented) salami that is on a lot of contemporary menus but that's way OK with me.
Flathead can be sustainably fished in Victoria so is usually a good choice. It's done here tail on,the flesh butterflied and grilled flat. Delicate and flaky,it's served with seaweed butter over quinoa to absorb fishy juices.
The beer garden is kid-welcoming and dog-loving.Ed Sloane Photography Rotisserie chicken is brushed with house-made black garlic soy sauce and fermented apricot. Blackened and crisp-skinned,it pulls juicily from the bone and is absurdly flavourful,even more so when swiped through a smoky eggplant and miso puree that finds an open border between Japan and Lebanon.
Zymurgy emerged as a pop-up but it's been embraced,so the good times will keep rolling,including indoors where there's an elevated version of the menu.
A low-waste philosophy means leftover produce is preserved,with the results arranged on ever-changing pickles plates. Mine included puckery salted plums,so good with a raspberry sour beer.
Blackened chicken with eggplant and miso puree.Eddie JimThere are tie-ins with Navi:the restaurant's beloved sourdough starter (his name is William) is now doing double duty,and beach herbs foraged for the restaurant turn up at the beer garden.