We were looking for somewhere for an easy meal after drinks at the Green Park and one of our party mentioned this restaurant, which I’d heard of and had been meaning to try. Long ago, I remember Sel et Poivre being there, a French restaurant, that seemed to last for a good while. Now it’s a modern Australian cafe with a mostly Italian influence, and open for dinners Wednesday to Saturday.
And it’s bloody good. We chose three starters and two pastas to share between three of us and they were all delicious, in fact, really, really delicious. This will NOT come through in these photos as the light was somehow just not right to show them as appealing as they were.
We had:
grilled sardines, preserved lemon, nduja on focaccia toast 10
12 hr roasted carrots, almond, crisp parsley 15
fresh baked focaccia, caramelised garlic & onion puree 6
Frank’s carbonara, spaghetti, mushroom cream, egg yolk, puffed wild rice 26 (this was my favourite of the night, a perfect combination of textures and an innovative take on a classic dish).
And a pasta of the week: squid ink spaghetti with generous rich pieces of lightly cooked salmon. I think all the dishes were interesting in that they had a similar balance of a rich, possibly creamy texture, a crunchy element, and something savoury with depth of flavour, all in a lovely harmony.
We also had a rather delicious bottle of wine: the wine list was short and well-curated and a bit on the expensive side, though I think the food is a little bit on the inexpensive side for the quality you get, so it balances out OK. I’ll be back.