Keep calm and order in this Valentine s Day weekend, Victoria
Gemima Cody
Photo: Daniel Pockett
Victoria will enter a five-day lockdown at 11.59pm on Friday night in response to the COVID-19 cluster from the Holiday Inn. Stage four restrictions will be in place until 11.59pm Wednesday, which means no visitors to the home, masks worn everywhere and restaurants returning to takeaway only service.
Restaurants and bars which were booked out for Valentine s Day and Lunar New Year celebrations this weekend are now faced with cancelling bookings and trying to deal with a surfeit of produce ordered for the events.
Victoria s hospitality community has learned to adapt to the moving target of lockdowns, and many businesses have immediately sprung into action, selling at-home celebration packages instead.
Melbourne s best food moments and movements of 2020
Gemima Cody
Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen
Whoever wrote the script for this endlessly unpredictable year is hopefully now taking a well-deserved break, leaving us to reflect on the year that was. And here s the thing. It was rocky and devastating for the hospitality industry. But it was unquestionably one of the most innovative and delicious years on record.
If I told you last year that Everleigh bartenders would be dropping their cocktails at your door, lobster prices would be down, Ben Shewry might make your birthday cake, and you were about to discover some of the best Sumatran and Rajasthani dishes you ve ever had, 2020 would have sounded like a dream come true.