Not to be outdone by Perth’s Toastface Killah sandwich shop, Melbourne is showing it’s deadly serious about the seminal hip-hop-themed-novelty-restaurant game with the arrival of Biggie Smalls – a Notorious B.I.G. themed middle eastern restaurant.
Bare with us.
The brian-child of celebrity chef Shane Delia, the eatery will look like a classic New York diner – but instead of burgers and fries it’ll be kebabs and dolmades, albeit with a trademark Melbourne-as-hell twist. Instead of the classic shaved meat and grilled chicken, menu items will include the East Coast (fried shrimp with harissa and almond hummus, mint and pickled radish) and West Coast (slow-roasted pork belly with maple-syrup hummus, pickled cabbage, sweet onions, hot sauce and mint).
Meanwhile in the drinks department, patrons will be able to whet their whistles with some gin and juice and cans of beer, with the fact that gin and juice was a Snoop Dogg track being unimportant when you imagine sipping on a cold one after biting into one of those pork belly and maple syrup hummus numbers.
This move into “hip-hop-spitality” was inspired by Delia’s youthful obsession with the iconic rapper, the cooking show star having once even sported BGPOPA vanity plates in tribute to Smalls’ hit Big Popa.
He’s left his love for the gaudy behind though, promising in an interview with Broadsheet that he doesn’t “want it to be TGI Fridays or the Hard Rock Café. There’s not going to be any pictures of anyone up, and I’m not going to have Tupac Tuesday.”
Set to open on Smith Street in Collingwood, eager diners will have to wait till December to try some of Delia’s tasty offerings – but you can find out more at the Biggie Smalls website.
In the meantime enjoy some classic Big Poppa below.
Watch: The Notorious B.I.G. – Big Poppa
