The Table: 49 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, 9534 6803
My score: 2.5/5
The Table is awash with ideas: it’s aiming to be a convivial eatery that picks up local buzz about Latino cooking then takes it to a higher level. Owner-chef James Blackman spent the past seven years working for an American billionaire, much of it managing a Caribbean estate, so he’s well versed in black beans, blue corn and the like. Back home, his new restaurant gestures at fine dining with elaborate food dotted on oversized sail-shaped plates (the same ones for every dish). It also keeps things casual, with an open kitchen and a welcoming pavement presence. The namesake table was once the heart of Blackman’s childhood home; it’s now at the restaurant’s entrance where it looks more like a monument than a place for eating.
Service is keen and warm. The food is creative, tending to confusing. When it works it’s good, as with a rolled chicken leg with coriander and corn stuffing, the flesh moist and tender, the skin golden and gently crisped. But many dishes could do with more ‘whoa’ and less ‘wow’. Tuna marinated in harissa (a Middle Eastern chilli paste made here with toasted pumpkin and sesame seeds and homegrown chillis) is formed into mini tortilla stacks with black beans and melted manchego cheese. They’re elegant but the chilli was overpowering and the fish overcooked and dry. (I thought later, eating the bland chilli chocolate cake, that the overspiced tuna had nicked its heat from the dessert. I’m not sure what to blame for the overwhelming aromatics in the sangria.) For the mescal-cured mackerel, the fish was ‘cooked’ in lime and mescal (a spirit derived from the agave succulent), but it was less thrilling than it sounds. The avocado puree on the side was greyish, and the agave and blue corn crackers were dramatically dark but no more interesting to eat for their colouring. A sliced beef fillet was OK but unevenly cooked; chilli jus was poured at the table in an unnecessary flourish.
I appreciate The Table’s project. As Melbourne becomes more clued into south of the border flavours, it would be nice to find them used in successful fine dining dishes. Fitzroy Street could certainly do with more good mid-range restaurants (bring it on Andrew McConnell, opening this autumn where Bar Corvina finally fizzled). If The Table’s food becomes as focused as its heart is keen, it might well become the happy gathering place its owner envisages.
See their website.
First published in The Age, January 9, 2011
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