Hell of the North

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135 Greeves Street, Fitzroy, 9417 6660

My score: 4/5

We’re Melbourne diners, so we live our lives in the back streets, don’t we? We’re au fait with laneways, we disappear into basements, dart to rooftops and find it very boring to eat on main roads (unless from a van). Well, sometimes, and not always and perhaps just a bit. But still, I’m a little weak-kneed about Hell of the North and the frisson started with its side-street location (off Smith Street) and its beckoning, yellow door set in a window-free bluestone wall that seems to say, ‘Come on funsters, good times await, and we won’t tell if you don’t.’

The restaurant name comes from a killer French bike race but the place isn’t torturous at all. Behind that door, a cluey crew delivers French food and wine and a smart Melbourne experience in a series of hideyhole rooms. Make of the place what you will: French onion soup at the bar, beer on tap and home nice and early? Sure. Settle back for the night with cocktails and the $65 feed-me menu? Absolutely. Sneak in at midnight for beef tartare and fries from the supper snack list? Sorted.

Chef Sean Marshall trained with Melbourne’s French food master Philippe Mouchel then spent two years cooking in top regional French kitchens. Marshall’s food pays deep respect to classical traditions but keeps a canny eye on local culinary breezes. There are excellent renditions of dishes rarely spied in Melbourne these days, except perhaps in the pages of venerable cookery reference Larousse Gastronomique. Paupiettes of flounder are painstakingly filleted, rolled with crayfish and prawn mousse, poached and dressed with rich seafood bisque. Gnocchi parisienne, another old-timer given new life, are made with choux pastry (rather than potato dough) so the dumplings are in the same family as eclairs. They’re flavoured with mustard and tarragon and tossed with buttery mushroom and pumpkin. The delicious sweet smoothness of the dish is cut with vin jaune, a sherry-like aged wine.

The retro Frenchy theme persists with flambeed crepes Suzette but there are also on-trend dishes both savoury (farro salad with smoked goat’s curd) and sweet (salted caramel mousse). The drinks list is dominated by French wines at approachable prices, with a smattering of Euro-style Australian examples bringing up the rear. Like the good-value food, the wine list bursts with savvy enthusiasm and I foresee plenty more adventures behind that jaunty yellow door.

See their website.

More back streets:

Little Rose, 309 Bay Street, Port Melbourne, 9681 8550
The old storeroom at Rose Diner and Bar is a cute little cafe specialising in jaffles and shakes and entered via Heath Street at the rear. 

Miss Jackson, 2/19 Grey Street, St Kilda, 9534 8415
The address is Grey Street but the entry is via a deck on Jackson Street. Hit this sweet spot for great eggs, creative sandwiches and super specials.

Hungry Birds, 242 Victoria Street, Brunswick, 0401 540 872
If you’re not excited about the Mexican food and the art gallery next door then surely the NBN hook up (that is, superfast wi-fi) will float your boat.

First published in The Age, August 25, 2013