Carlton Wine Room – Dani Valent

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Carlton Wine Room: 172-174 Faraday Street, Carlton, 9347 2626

My score: 3.5/5

One-year-old Carlton Wine Room is infused with the passion of its host Jay Bessell, who owns the place alongside fellow alumni from city stayer Il Solito Posto. Bessell is an enthusiastic wine nut who bounces from table to table to wax lyrical and to cheerfully, theatrically confess, ‘I like to drink.’ Cue stage whisper. ‘A lot.’

The deep, broad wine list is his baby, as is the warm Victorian warren in which to drink it, comprising a front bar and dining room in the shuddery shadow of taxidermied pigeons, a cosy rear dining room with window bench, an appealing private cellar that feels like a war room carved into a hillside by General Grenache and Brigadier Bordeaux, and a larger first-floor chamber that would be a gorgeous venue for a small wedding.

Chef Matthew Silovic (ex-Verge) delivers good upscale bistro fare, displaying clever ideas, solid technique and the judicious application of tricksy flourishes. The menu hedges its bets. There’s snacky stuff (olives, oysters, no-brainer chilli soft-shell crab). There are pretty, composed tasting plates (luscious porchetta di testa – rolled pig’s head – served with smoked grapes, horseradish ‘snow’ and cashews). There are main courses in sensible entree portions, including beautifully pan-roasted barramundi with caramelised skin and sweet, sticky flesh, backed up by silken celeriac puree. A beef dish was less impressive, the sous vide porterhouse pallid and chewy, the water bath doing this prime cut no favours at all.

I loved the antipasto plate with its crisp-crumbed pig’s ear strips, pristine poached calamari and ‘fossilised’ Jerusalem artichoke salad. Fossilised? The root vegetable is bathed in a lime solution which sets and encases the vegetable, so when it’s roasted, the moisture is locked in. I don’t know. To me, it just tasted good but I didn’t experience the fireworks that the description promised. Same with a chocolate ‘capsule’ described with such breathless excitement I imagined it levitating. When it was merely a chocolate shell encasing chocolate cream I was disappointed. The descriptions seemed to oversell the food, unnecessarily turning delicious dishes into letdowns. There’s also a potential deflation in the fact that Bessell is so bombastic and fun that other waiters, even if efficient and pleasant, pale in his wake. It’s tricky: there’s no way he could employ a fleet in his image. Best to enjoy the fun when it flits past and otherwise, find your own fun in feasting.

See their website.

More Carlton:

Baker D. Chirico, 178 Faraday Street, Carlton, 9349 3445
A triumph of design as well as a great bakery, the northside Baker D has sweeping, curved plywood shelves which hold excellent baguettes, croissants and sourdough loaves.

Middle Fish, 122-128 Berkeley Street, Carlton, 9348 1704
Full of energy and serving up delicious Thai food, I love the crunchy mussel omelette, the espresso with condensed milk and the massive red booths.

First published in The Age, June 3, 2012

2017-09-18T17:33:01+10:00

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