Enter via Laundry

I had the absolute joy to eat recently at Enter via Laundry, a unique Melbourne dining experience.

It is a vegetarian/vegan 9 or 10 course dinner for 8 strangers at the home of Helly Raichura, HR consultant by day and chef by night. The in-home restaurant dining room is entered via the laundry and is next to the open kitchen, so this is about as chef’s table as it gets. The location is secret until just before the dinner.

The food is influenced by Helly’s Gujarati heritage combining both modern and traditional flavours and techniques. It is, hands down, the loveliest food I have eaten in a long time. The food is beautiful and delicious, made with produce, flowers and herbs from Helly’s garden.

It is a bit odd heading into a dinner with strangers, but I need not have worried, the other guests were an interesting and varied bunch and it was very friendly.

I’ll let the food photos do the talking. Almost all of the courses were vegan, with vegan options for the few that weren’t. I’ve shown the vegetarian options so you can see there are no sacrifices involved.

Avocado with Lemon Myrtle, River Mint, Cos lettuce and Begonia

Sweet and sour sponge, vinaigrette, coconut milk kefir

Lentil and Rice loaf smoked with Eucalyptus, homemade butter or macadamia oil, grape juice reduction, coriander seeds, onion seeds, Oxalis

Handmade butter with a grape juice reduction for the vegetarians and macadamia oil with herbs for the vegans to accompany the bread.

Chickpea “pasta” ribbons with kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and red chilli oil, Thai basil and coriander root oil, warm spiced coconut milk, garlic flowers

This was my favourite dish of the night.