tummyrumbles.com

I just love the The Age Good Food Guide Restaurant Express lunch, which forms part of the fabulous Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. This concept allows impoverished foodies to dine at some of Melbourne’s better restaurants, and all for a reasonably cheap price. The deal - two courses plus a glass of wine for $30. And when you’re talking about the likes of Grossi Florentino or Bistro Vue, well, this is an absolute bargain.

Alas, I was not quick enough to score a booking at some of the more popular venues. But I’m so glad I didn’t as then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be so utterly delighted by Oyster Little Bourke.

Located at the top end of Little Bourke Street (which is fast becoming a rather nice restaurant precinct), this place oozes suaveness and high end dining, without being overly pretentious. The minute EG and I walked in we were warmly greeted and shown to our table. At no point were we treated like “cheap eaters”, which I must admit I have suffered at other establishments in previous years. Front of house were super slick and worked the room well - pouring water, refolding napkins, offering bread etc.

For entree I chose the salted cod and potato cake with endive and ravigote dressing. The cake itself was as big as a hockey puck, and crammed with flakes of cod and well seasoned mash. The sharp vinaigrette of capers, herbs and shallots added a nice contrast to the deep fried goodness. And so pretty on the plate to boot.

EG ordered the bucattini pasta with borlotti beans and sausage ragu, which he voted as the best plate of pasta he has ever had the pleasure to consume. Seriously, the dish was awesome. The sauce was so herbacious and packed full of flavour, I petitioned the chef for the ingredients. He sent back parsley, dill and tarragon, but I could also taste nutmeg in there too. But the sausage added so much flavour - a technique I will be investigating further.

Again, EG choose a winner of a dish in the pan fried salmon fillet with tomatoes and a lemon dressing. The salmon was cooked to perfection - deliciously crispy on the skin, and slightly pink in the centre. The little tomatoes were sheer works of art - from what I can gather it was a little tomato baked inside a deep fried layer of shallot/onion?!? I don’t know how they did it, but when you crunched down on the outer skin, your mouth was filled with the absolute essence of a warm oven roasted tomato. The dish was finished with deep fried basil and a lemon vinaigrette. Another rocking dish.

I decided on the roasted organic chicken with glazed celeriac and thyme sauce. I must admit I was a little disappointed with the lack of glazed celeriac (only a strip or two), which made the dish a trifle unbalanced. Basically it was just chicken on a plate, which in itself was bloody magnificent in taste and tenderness (…and the sauce was amazing). But it was just missing something.

For an extra $8 we decided to supplement our cheap eat with a rocket and parmesan salad. You can’t go too wrong here, and they didn’t. Fresh ingredients. Well dressed.

We both decided on the 2006 T’Gallant Pinot Noir as our wine of choice - a rather nice drop of ruby from the Mornington Peninsula. Also on offer was a T’Gallant Pinot Grigio.

This was my first visit to Oyster Little Bourke, and EG’s second (you can read his review here). But I think this is a venue that will become a firm favourite.

Written by mellie on March 20th, 2007 | Tags: restaurants | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL