‘A meal for two of this quality for less than $100 is downright astounding’

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Attention, dumpling lovers of Melbourne! There’s a new dumpling in town, or at least, a new space to eat dumplings that have had a cult following for a while.

Pierogi Pierogi has been operating as a market stall and purveyor of frozen dumplings for years, but last November owners Dominika Sikorska and Guy Daley opened a charming and airy shopfront on Lygon Street in Brunswick East serving a wide variety of pierogi and a selection of other Polish dishes.

During summer, the large front windows of Eat Pierogi Make Love are open to the street, where bench seating is available on the footpath. The pale yellow tiling starts on the exterior and continues into the space, dominated by a bar and open kitchen, with seating at high tops, in booths and on stools along the bar. Walls are decorated with colourful pop-art Polish posters (say that three times fast) and exuberant energy abounds. What absolute fun.

There are so many trends being bucked here, including the presentation of this Eastern European cuisine in a fresh and modern setting. But also, the bar is dedicated almost completely to what is probably the least trendy spirit of the moment: vodka. They make great use of it, in a must-order Szarlotka ($20), a mixture of Polish vodka and freshly squeezed apple juice. The Ogorki martini ($22), made with pickle brine, is pleasingly salty, and there’s a huge selection of flavoured vodkas ($10-$12 a shot).

Snacks, listed on the menu as “Zakaski, Food for Wodka”, include sledz ($9), or marinated herring on spelt bread with onion, fennel, pink peppercorns and red currants. The combination of salty, acidic fish, the pop of the peppercorns and the sweetness of the currants makes for a fantastic couple of bites, as does the house pork and beef liver pâté ($9), topped with Polish cucumber and lightly pickled tomato on dark rye bread.

Sikorska and Daley have a way of brightening everything, bringing freshness to dishes that traditionally lean towards heaviness. In the case of the golabki (cabbage rolls, $16), that’s achieved via a beautifully fruity and acidic tomato sauce, as well as a lush and bouncy pork and rice sausage filling.

And, of course, there are five variations of pierogi, which come eight dumplings to a serving ($24). Some of them, such as the potato and cheese version, are boiled, while others, like the mushroom and sauerkraut, are pan-fried. I prefer this style of dumpling – the pan action gives a crisp and alluring stretch to the skin, which is firm and slightly tangy, as if the dough has been barely fermented. The addition of diced celeriac and lashings of dill to the mushroom version gives it a wonderful complexity.

I was also a huge fan of the leniwe ($26), a Polish-style gnocchi made with flour, here crisped in brown butter and tossed with spinach and peas and showered with shredded pickled beetroot. (Vegetarians will eat just as well as carnivores here.)

Of all the trends this restaurant is bucking, the rejection of the astronomical prices in mid-range restaurants is perhaps the most exciting.

There are two dessert choices (both $12), a cheesecake topped with red currants, and a seasonal fruit crisp. I was lucky enough to eat here during stone fruit season, which meant a warm crock of nectarines and peaches baked under a crunchy sugary topping, served with a scoop of deep purple berry sorbet. Summer should be all about fruit pies and cobblers and crisps – I wish more places went this route.

If you’re someone who tends to breeze through reviews without paying attention to the included prices, I urge you to go back and look again at what Eat Pierogi Make Love is charging. Their most expensive snack is $18. You won’t need more than one plate of pierogi per person – at $24 each, that’s quite a bargain for a main course.

Of all the trends this restaurant is bucking, the rejection of the astronomical prices in mid-range restaurants is perhaps the most exciting. I know why dining out is getting so expensive, but I also know that many customers are getting priced out. A meal for two of this quality for less than $100 is downright astounding.

I can’t remember the last time I texted friends and family during a meal and exclaimed: “You have to come here! You would love this place!” But that’s exactly what I found myself doing at Eat Pierogi Make Love. “I’ll meet you here anytime,” I promised, and I meant it.