Many bar menus now provide a more exciting alternative to the dowdy, if free, bowl of nuts. On-the-house hors d'oeuvres are all the rage, with flavoured popcorn being the bar snack du jour.
On Friday nights, fusion hot spot Nobu in Whiteman Street, Southbank, offers Peruvian-Japanese tapas such as yellowtail sashimi, black cod in butter lettuce and school prawns with aioli, provided one drink is purchased.
Shannon Bennett's prestigious Lui Bar in the Rialto building hosts a nightly midnight snack. The quirky one-bite wonder on offer changes each week.
After 6pm in spa town Daylesford, the Farmers Arms in East Street hands out freshly cooked bites, including spicy chicken wings, croquettes and spare ribs.
Double Happiness Bar in the city centre does spicy soy crisps and Chinese peanuts "for that salty fix". Argentinian wine bar and restaurant Piqueos in Rathdowne Street, Carlton North, offer gluttonous pork fat popcorn; likewise, Mr Wow's Emporium in Smith Street, Fitzroy, makes salted Mexican, French and Greek flavoured popcorn.
Du Nord in Little Bourke Street has guests enjoying chilli salted popcorn.
STEPHANIE WADE
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