What’s on around town

• Earlier this month a devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake claimed the lives of at least 290 people in Colombia, with about 4000 injured. La Esquina, a new Latin American food truck park in Footscray, aims to raise $50,000 for disaster relief. Visit from midday to 9pm on August 22 to take part. La Esquina is working with the Colombian embassy to determine how and where the funds will be donated; 100 per cent of donations will be sent to Colombia, with La Esquina absorbing staffing and other operating costs on the day.

• Pincho Disco is usually closed on Sundays. On August 23, it will open for a special fundraiser for Colombia. From midday to 6pm or until sold out, Colombian head chef Diego Cardenas will ladle out bowls of sancocho, a hearty traditional stew made from various meats and root veggies (takeaway is available). The usual menu won’t be available, but the bar will be open for beers and soft drinks, and live music will play throughout the day. All profits will go to Manos Visibles, a Colombian social innovation and cultural non-profit.

• Iberian restaurant Bar Lourinhã just turned 20. To celebrate, it will pop up at Prahran Market and relaunch its 2018 cookbook Eat at the Bar, updated and republished this year as Lourinhã. Head to the Harvest Hall, just behind Maker & Monger, to buy signed books; snack on gildas, tostadas, croquetas and paella; and enjoy a few drinks from a rustic barrel bar pouring Spanish wine, sherry, beer and the sangria-like tinto de verano. 11am–4pm, August 22.

• Naga Dining is one of a few hot Thai pop-ups doing the rounds in Melbourne, including a recent dinner at Geralds for our second Dine Out festival. From midday till 8pm on August 30, it heads to Mitcham for an exciting collab at the Hot Listed Dutch Rules Distilling, exploring the boundaries between Thai and Sri Lankan cuisines. Some highlights include smoked Port Arlington mussels with tomato vinegar, oxtongue curry with hazelnuts, and spanner crab doughnuts. The menu also includes house ferments and one-off cocktails featuring Dutch Rules liqueurs. Book here.

• Community radio station Triple R is celebrating 50 years of broadcasting. For an incredible 39 of those years, Cam Smith has been hosting weekly food show Eat It. From midday to 1pm on August 30, he’ll host a special live taping at Triple R’s subscriber-only Performance Space, interviewing chefs Karen Martini (Bar Carolina), Victor Liong (Lee Ho Fook) and Joseph Abboud (Rumi) about migration, culture and changing palates. Tune in on 102.7FM or online.

• Umami, or savouriness, is sometimes referred to as the fifth taste after sweet, salty, sour and bitter. It’s a crucial pillar of Japanese cuisine and the theme of Sachi x Bar Kaeru’s collab dinner, The Fifth Taste, on August 30. Sushi and saké is what you’re in for as Sachi owner Reki Reinantha and his head chef Shinwoo Hong invite friend Sean Then of Bar Kaeru for a three-course dinner with matched drinks from the 300-year-old Nakashima Brewery in Gifu Prefecture. $120 per person. Bookings essential.

• Melburnian Karl Henkell is the founder of Record. The print mag covers the intersection of music, art and fashion being produced between Melbourne, Berlin and New York, where it was founded. Issue 11 launches at Skydiver Records from 6pm on August 27, with drinks from Minimum Wines and sets by Millú, Nice Girl and Skydiver’s own DJs.

• Paul Farag, who until recently was running the show at Sydney’s Aalia, is one of Australia’s most accomplished Middle Eastern chefs. On August 28, he flies south to join Shane Delia in the kitchen at Maha for an “unrestricted” Middle Eastern feast. Their $198, five-course menu will explore their shared philosophy of traditional food cooked with Australian produce and presented in a contemporary way. Book here.

• Argentinean restaurant San Telmo is firing up the parilla barbie for Australiana, a five-course Sunday lunch on August 30 featuring native ingredients and a hint of Waltzing Matilda mythology. Dishes include charcoal-baked damper with native bush honey, fried cheese and Vegemite empanadas, wallaby tartare with bush tomato spice, O’Connor scotch fillet with pepperberry chimichurri, and strawberry gum meringue with Davidson’s plum for dessert. $149 per person, including a welcome cocktail. Book here.

• Fresh off his Dine Out collab at Mesa Verde, ex-Yardbird chef Geoff Marett is bringing his Nama pop-up to Collingwood diner Jollygood from 6pm on August 31. The menu is yet to be revealed, but creative Asian with a penchant for Japanese is usually in order when he’s in the kitchen. Bookings are essential.

What we covered this week

• First Look: a beloved Singaporean chicken rice shop opens in Melbourne.

• Turkish wine bar Lokanta pops up in Fitzroy with an ex-Nomad chef in the kitchen.

• Gluten is blacklisted at new Collingwood beer hall The Freehouse.

• Coming Soon: Macgregor’s Original smash burgers are heading west

• Solve the mystery to leave your table at Australia’s first escape room restaurant, Frida Crouton’s Final Course.

• Melbourne bakers won’t stop opening scroll shops. Try these five brand-new ones.