Dan Stock: Pier Farm replaces Williamstown’s Anchorage with sharp service and good views
A HANDSOME room, incredible marina views and some sharp service create an appealing package down Williamstown way, writes Dan Stock.
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WHEN it feels like every second waiter at every other “hot” new restaurant seems more interested in chatting up colleagues than taking care of customers and addresses you as ‘mate’ while selling you wine they — not you — like to drink, it comes as a bit of a shock to come across spot on service.
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And though it’s not just a generation gap that’s to blame, it’s also a surprise to come across someone working a room who’s a bit more dot matrix than dotcom.
While the industry rightfully rails at the skills shortage, until front-of-house hospitality is truly celebrated as a lifelong career — as it is in Europe — there’s little chance of that easing.
Until then it is, of course, diners who must suffer fools, sadly.
It perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise that George Haralambopoulos delivers a quiet masterclass in service, having plied and honed his craft for the past three decades: from Donlevy Fitzpatrick days at Vic Ave Café way back, then through 15 years at Werribee Mansion Hotel and now here, at Williamstown’s Pier Farm, which many will know as the old Anchorage restaurant.
He’s wonderful.
With a breezy, chaste quip delivered with a cheeky smile at every tableside engagement, he has the warm but not overfamiliar style of a true professional.
Little things, such as verbal specials that come with prices, or the offer of iced tap water after our mineral bottle had been drained, show the experience of thousands of services, though his knowledge of both wine and food is imparted without a hint of haughtiness — or boredom.
“I’ve been putting off coming here, because I loved Anchorage,” my local lunch date said.
She had reason to be somewhat wary, for apart from George, the facade and the view, the old Anchorage has been reborn.
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Gone are the decor nods to the sea and in with bright whitewashed walls, a palate of navy and blonde and a hothouse of hanging greenery.
It’s comfortable, the carpet providing welcome soundproofing, an outside deck making the most of those showstopping marina views across the bay.
Behind the new look and name, restaurateur Roberto Scheriani, who was last seen serving up high-end Med to the top end of town at the CBD’s The Italian and it’s a similar, if somewhat simplified, brief he’s given chef Matteo Bartaletti (ex-North Bondi Italian Food) here.
While the menu leans into the water, it’s a carte with something for everyone that feels familiar. There’s oysters and prosciutto with melon to start, a few pastas, and a steak, spatchcock or crumbed cotoletta for those skipping the fish — though I wouldn’t.
When it comes to Italian by the water, it doesn’t come more classic than calamari fritti and the version here is great. A lovely mix of all the squid bits, lightly dusted and quickly fried, they’re at once salty and tender and crunchy.
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It’s the chopped pickled banana chilli, however, that’s tossed through the rocket leaves underneath that elevates the dish from fine with welcome puckering punch ($27).
Four mid-sized Hervey Bay scallops served on the shell are nicely cooked and retain a translucent wobble, but to get to them you need to wade through a coeliac’s nightmare of breadcrumbs.
It’s like Hansel and Gretel had exploded over the plate, with the breadcrumbs that tasted only of butter about as useful to the scallops as they were to the siblings ($24).
No such adornment, save a grill-charred lemon half, with today’s whole fish — flounder ($48) — which was outstanding. With the balance of butter and citrus in pitch-perfect harmony and the flesh truly fall from the bone, it’s served with a perfectly dressed and seasoned salad of radicchio, witlof and yellow and red tomatoes. It’s the type of classic Mediterranean dish that seems simple but is hard to perfect. This one is.
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From the pasta section, while I don’t subscribe to the vampire-warding rusticity of whole garlic cloves that were swimming in the sugo, the gnocchi it dressed were soft and light and fine ($24).
And though I would’ve liked a more generous glug of booze in the zabagliolo, it provided creamy contrast to the sticky, syrupy, orange granita atop and made for a good hot day dessert.
Excellent coffee rounds out George’s thoughtful wine list that’s filled with Euro-leaning, if sometimes curiously priced, interest — Veuve Clicquot NV for $155 (ouch); Giaconda ‘Nantua’ Chardonnay for $84 (nice) — with a good line in Italians.
It’s expensive. Perhaps the owners of the multi-zero homes here along The Strand don’t blink at $45 for fish and chips but I do. But the handsome room, view and service add up to a package that’ll be as appealing to the moneyed on this side of the bay as Donovans is on the other.
14 / 20
Pier Farm
34 The Strand, Williamstown
Ph: 9397 7799
Open Tues-Sun from noon
Go-to dish: Fish of the day
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