Fitzrovia
155 Fitzroy St
St Kilda, VIC 3182
Ph: (03) 9537 0001
Website
I was recently invited along to try out the dinner menu at Fitzrovia, in Saint Kilda. Having enjoyed chef Paul Jewson's previous venture, Outpost, as well as his cooking at events, I was keen to see what his own restaurant would be like.
Located on a relatively quiet stretch of Fitzroy street, Fitzrovia seems to be open pretty much constantly - serving breakfast and coffee, lunch, afternoon nibbles, dinner, and cocktails!
The space has a very homey, low-key feel which I love. At street level is the bar and some seating, and going further into the restaurant you'll see that the dining space is separated into distinct rooms, having kept the structure from the building's previous incarnation as a house. My favourite feature is, unsurprisingly, the big open kitchen.
Before we started eating, Paul invited us into the kitchen so we could watch the following nectarine clafoutis tart being made. Mmm... check out all that gorgeous ripe fruit!
Clafoutis nectarine tart in progress |
For blogging purposes, Paul kindly arranged to bring out a selection of items from the menu, doing some in slightly smaller portions than normal so that we could try a larger range of different dishes.
First up, an amuse bouche of lime-marinated watermelon with goats curd and chard cress. With the lime and watermelon flavours, this almost tasted like a cocktail - a refreshing little mouthful to begin proceedings.
Amuse Bouche: Lime-marinated watermelon with goats curd and chard cress |
Roast Morton Bay bug tails with a cherry tomato gazpacho and shaved basil - $23.00 |
As always, I was eating with a non-seafood eater, which meant that I got to have this first dish all to myself! Muahaha! Morton Bay bugs aren't the type of thing I'd think to order myself, but I'm so glad I got to try them - they were fantastic! The bugs were incredibly fresh, and a light prod with a fork removed the tender flesh from the shell. Combined with the gazpacho and a salad of tomatoes, red onion and cucumber, this was a wonderful dish.
Fergus' brawn terrine with crispy pig's ear salad - $18.00 |
Roasted shallot tart tatin with burrata and pea shoot salad - $16.00 |
Next came two pasta dishes. (N.B. these were prepared in a smaller portion than usual for tasting purposes).
Cummin roast zucchini, butternut squash, fennel & Mossvale briq with ancient grain tabouleh, spiced pumpkin seeds and chipotle labna - $27.00 |
I'm not vegetarian (clearly!), but I think it's great that so much thought and effort has gone into creating an exciting vegetable dish that is satisfyingly substantial, but not in the least bit stodgy.
Chef Paul wanted us to try his beef cheek, braised overnight in Red Hill Scotch ale, but with all that food before we sadly had to wave the white flag and move on to dessert. (Next time, next time!)
Of course, we had to order that nectarine clafoutis tart. I'm sure that sharing one slice would have been just perfect as a dessert, but I couldn't go past "Adam's ballistic baked cheesecake" when I saw it on the menu, so we asked if we could have a teensy-tiny slice of each one.
Adam's ballistic baked cheesecake (N.B. this is a small portion for tasting; the cheesecake is usually served in a larger portion and priced at $10.50) |
Yarra Valley nectarine clafoutis tart (N.B. This was a small portion for tasting; the tart is usually served in a larger portion and priced at $10.50) |
The clafoutis tart was, as expected, fabulous. I don't think you can go wrong with an abundance of fresh fruit, especially when combined with warm custard and pastry.
I loved Paul's approach of carefully crafted yet simple dishes, served generously and in a pleasant atmosphere. His particular strength, however, appears to be with seafood, and I'd absolutely recommend any of his seafood dishes! A big thanks to Paul Jewson for a lovely dinner and for guiding us through the menu!
Sarah and Sandra dined as guests of Fitzrovia.
4 comments
Everything sounds lovely. *sighhhs*
ReplyDeleteIt was really good, I was so impressed! I want to go back to try their coffee and breakfasts. :)
ReplyDeletexox Sarah
Are you sure that's samphire? Looks like snow pea sprouts to me...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - the green leaves are snow pea sprouts, the pieces of samphire are the dark green strips underneath.
ReplyDelete