Back to Restaurant Reviews
The Last Piece: 2 Stadium Circuit, Mulgrave, 9545 3040
My score: 3.5/5
Waverley Park was a football ground last time I came here. My team lost. I trudged to the car through an endless bog then crawled to the exit in a first-gear funk. This time, I zoomed along the M1, parked on asphalt and ate in a remnant of the old stadium, which now contains a grocer, a gym and The Last Piece. The oval, once the site of pitched battles in bootstud-pocked mud, is now an immaculate green surrounded by large villas.
The Last Piece is smart in lots of ways: the look is warm but clean, creating a blank canvas that locals can overlay with their own experiences. That might mean an early coffee while checking emails, a pram pow-wow, an efficient business lunch, dinner with the kids or a sundowner on the deck with pals. The menu is smart too: it’s flexible, including all-day breakfasts and chatty menu categories like ‘Hawks Under 12s’ for the kids’ offerings. Parents will love the fact that they do small hot chocolates and juices.
The food isn’t fancy but it’s honest and generous and the prices are keen. Lunch and dinner dishes are more or less Italian. There’s plenty of fried stuff, an array of bready things like pizza and burgers, potatoes in many forms, and all-round hefty serves. Pizzas go heavy on footy references: the Matthew Richardson comes with tiger prawns, pea puree and fresh chilli; the Rex Hunt is a seafood frenzy. One thing hasn’t changed at Waverley Park: meat pies are still on the lunch menu. On my last visit it was a lukewarm Four’n’Twenty. This time it’s a sturdy puff pastry case filled with rich, tasty grass-fed beef braise. Other options include lovely pappardelle tossed with lamb ragu and borlotti beans, a baby calamari and rocket salad, and an OK seared tuna salad with redundant poached egg. (The presence of endangered tuna undercuts the ‘local sustainable’ fish of the day but at least there’s a stab at consciousness raising.)
The carpark side of the restaurant is less than scenic. I prefer the area closer to the oval, where I could watch kids whirling and twirling on the turf till they tumbled over to stare up at all that spinning Waverley sky. If this is the suburban dream, you can put me to sleep on a middle-Australian pillow right now because I’m good and sold.
See their website
More Glen Waverley:
Zest 89, 89 Kingsway, Glen Waverley, 9561 8918
With a licensed cafe downstairs and a bar and grill on the first floor, Zest covers most bases. There are plenty of vegetarian and gluten-free options.
Shira Nui, 247 Springvale Road, Glen Waverley, 9886 7755
Sit at the counter for one of Melbourne’s best omakase get-what-you’re-given adventures.
Great Eastern Hakka, 319 Stephensons Road, Mount Waverley, 9807 3388
A curious blend of Hakka Chinese cuisine and Swedish pizza makes for interesting options such as the Kyckling pizza with chicken, curry sauce and fefferoni (pickled peppers).
First published in The Age, November 27, 2011
Leave A Comment