delicious.100: San Telmo is one of Melbourne’s best restaurants

PROVING, yet again, that Melbourne really is the capital of the food world, San Telmo does a damn good job of beating the Argentines at their own game.

The peanut praline-topped dulche de leche flan at San Telmo.

PROVING, yet again, that Melbourne really is the capital of the food world, San Telmo — named after Buenos Aires’ most famous barrio — does a damn good job of beating the Argentines at their own game.

For within a bustling dining room that channels the right amount of porteno-chic charm that offsets a handsome forest of wood and a herd of leather, the parilla is used to transform Gippsland beef into salt-crusted, purple-pink hued steaks better than you’ll find in the Argentine capital.

Hanger steak.

Wood-grilled carrots.

To start, sweetly decadent morcilla and soft, spiced chorizo are genre-defining revelations, and the beef empanadas are perfect little pastry morsels, but it’s not just about meat. Carrots branded by the grill and served with curd and hazelnuts, and earthy soft-roasted beets served with compressed watermelon and pickled rind show equal smarts on the veg side of the ledger.

The all-Argentinian wine list, accessibly priced with an expectedly good showing of malbec, is backed up by service that’s smart and smooth.

San Telmo’s service is sharp and smooth.

And then there’s the wobbly custardy celebration of the national dessert dulche de leche that is the peanut praline-topped flan (pictured above) to finish.

Must eat dish: flan

SAN TELMO

14 Meyers Pl, city.

Ph: 9650 5525

santelmo.com.au

Cuisine: South American

Chef: Stephen Clark

Price: between $41 and $80 a person for two courses

Bookings: yes

Open: daily noon-late

Instagram: @san_telmo_

This restaurant was ranked the 86th best restaurant in Victoria in the 2016 edition of the delicious.100.