Union Dining: 270-272 Swan Street, Richmond, 9428 2988
My score: 4/5
The room is lovely. The food is assured and delicious. The wine approach is joyful and the service is brilliant. Go. *clicks send* Oh, whoops, I just realised this isn’t a Tweet and I’ve still got 2000 characters to go! In that case, I’ll settle back, Union Dining style, and ease into the tale.
Last winter, chef Nicky Riemer (Melbourne Wine Room, Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder) and her best buddy front-of-house maestro Adam Cash (Cutler & Co, Ezard) fulfilled a longstanding ambition to open a restaurant together. Their approach is simpatico and the restaurant spills with appeal. The aesthetic is provincial European but it’s the gentry not the peasantry that is channelled in the generous dining room with its archways, bentwood seating, tiled floor and huge rug. (A rooftop terrace has just opened: hit the deck for chorizo skewers and spritzers.) The little details are just so: there’s a bespoke coaster for our carafe of rose, a gorgeous teapot, a ceramic baggage tag weighing down the bill, and pleasant toilets. You can’t eat that stuff but when the accoutrements align with the overall approach it’s even easier to relax.
If a waiter tells you about a special with happy tears in his eyes you tend to order it, so we had the terrine, which is tweaked weekly. Ours featured marinated veal and pork shoulder, duck liver and pickled cherries. Cognac, thyme and orange zest add top notes to the sweet, fatty meats and prosciutto holds the pretty, pressed masterpiece together. Acidic cut-and-thrust comes courtesy of accompanying pickled carrots and a witlof salad with sherry vinaigrette. The balance is also just so in a southern Italian-style sardine dish: pan-fried fillets are rested in vinegar and citrus marinade. Currant, fetta and parsley salad adds sweet, salty lift.
Some dishes come in two sizes and most are easy to share. Confit duck leg is picked from the bone, tossed with endives, toasted walnuts and mustard fruits and piled onto baby lentils: it’s restrained and luscious. The lamb abbacchio is a classic. Meat on the bone is gently braised and served simply with its juices. Oregano, green chilli and pecorino add lively twists and make a vain but valiant attempt to cut the richness. Desserts are simple: there’s chocolate tart with chocolate mousse, and perfect strawberries on biscuity, buttery Breton cake. It’s not rocket science but, like everything here, it’s heartfelt, careful and wholly enjoyable.
See their website.
More European class:
Merchant, 495 Collins Street, Melbourne, 9614 7688
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Persimmon, Ground Level, NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne, 8620 2434
The NGV’s fancy restaurant is a calm and pleasant haven that’s especially popular with lunching ladies.
Perfect Drop, 5 Howe Street, Daylesford, 5348 3373
The dining room has just expanded at this country cottage with classy share plates and great wine. There’s live music on Sunday afternoons.
First published in The Age, February 19, 2012
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