Morena Melbourne

Overview

Ever since coming to Australia decades ago, Alejandro Saravia has been on a mission to bring his own unique take on contemporary Peruvian cuisine (and Latin American food in general) to Australian diners. 

This kicked off when he opened the first Morena in Sydney's Surry Hills back in 2011, which sadly closed in 2013. It didn't seem as if Aussies were quite ready for Peruvian food like this, and so Saravia went on to launch Farmer's Daughters and Victoria by Farmer's Daughters, which both champion produce from Gippsland. 

Once these were up and running for a while, Saravia returned to the Morena plan and spent many years educating local diners on Latin American food, and finding out exactly how he could successfully bring the restaurant back.

He bit the bullet in 2024, opening Morena Sydney within the city's historic GPO. It was an instant hit, serving up contemporary fine-dining twists on classic Latin American cuisine. 

Months later, Morena Melbourne popped up — the fully realised version of the Morena brand. Located within the 80 Collins precinct, Morena Melbourne is comprised of two distinct but still clearly related neighbouring venues.

First off, you have Barra. This all-day diner is the more laidback and playful venue with strong wine bar vibes. You can roll on in for after-work sip-and-snack sessions over cocktails, Latin American wines (far from the old world varietals we Aussies are familiar with) and street food-style bites like ox tongue skewers, squash tostadas and cheese-packed arepas. 

Barra

Larger dishes like steaks, lamb neck with green mole and swordfish loin milanesa are also available for those wanting a proper feed, plus a couple of chef's selection menus. All in all, Saravia and his team don't hold back with the bold flavours, especially when it comes to packing on the chillies. It's also likely that you won't recognise a lot of the ingredients or kinds of sauces used on the menu, but trust these guys know what they're doing, and just go with it.

If fine-dining is more your vibe, you can always pop next door to Morena Restaurant, which sits across two levels. Here, Saravia is having the most fun, playing with even more Latin American ingredients you might not know, and complementing them with stacks of local produce. 

A standout has got to be the coral trout tiradito that's brightly paired with aji amarillo kosho and fermented mandarin emulsion. We also highly recommend the grilled grouper loin that sits on a squid and octopus stew, and the suckling goat served with a 90-plus-ingredient aged mole and corn tortillas.

You can pair this all with old world wines, but Morena is all about the new. You've got to get around the natty numbers and less-than-common native Latin American varietals and blends which we doubt you'll find elsewhere in Melbourne. 

If you've dined at Morena Sydney, you'll notice the Melbourne version is considerably more innovative. Flavours are bigger, and Saravia feels more comfortable to stray from tradition. 

Finally, Saravia gets to make his dream of bringing his take on contemporary Latin American dining to Australia, and we are absolutely stoked that he's done it. Morena Melbourne is the culmination of his life's work as a chef and restaurateur, and it's clearly a great labour of love. If it's not already on it, make sure you add this one to your Melbourne restaurant bucket list. 

Images: Arianna Leggiero.