Reserve your spot at East Malvern wine bar

Fine Italian-leaning fare is a perfect match for East Malvern wine bar Riserva

Riserva wine bar in East Malvern deserves special attention. Pictures: Jake Nowakowski

LIFE can feel soothingly uncomplicated in a wine bar.

Work worries, tensions at home, the bills you haven’t paid ... a well-chilled white or a voluptuous red can put all of that in perspective.

Add quality food and it’s no wonder they are flourishing.

Wine bars are especially popular in Melbourne’s leafy east, but East Malvern’s Riserva deserves special attention. Not just for its sturdy service but for the way a Euro-focused wine list is seamlessly matched to fine, Italian-leaning fare. Take a seat.

FOOD

Out they come ... plump oysters shucked to order ($2), deluxe cuts of Parma culatello ($14), and muscatels with a Breton brie (30g, $10).

Riserva’s kitchen, guided by chef Andrew Marasco, sends out a range of little tastes to complement the flute of Louis Roederer ($18) you’ve just ordered. Then, before you know it, you’re exploring the menu’s “small plate” section ... to go with French chardonnay or pinot.

Riserva in East Malvern. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Bring on the piquillo peppers with black salt ($7), the ricotta-filled zucchini flowers ($7)
as big as Cuban cigars and the impeccable anchovies ($8), nestling in their peeled-back tin can. Best of all is super-creamy burrata ($14), lowered into a ceramic bowl with black Russian tomatoes and drizzled with basil oil. Tart and creamy all at once.

Marasco’s vongole ($29) is just about the best I’ve ever tasted, a generous tangle of “fresh” spaghettini and local bay clams where garlic, chilli and bottarga (salted fish roe) supply nuanced background notes. You’ll think you’re in Venice.

Almost as good is a forest mushroom risotto with chestnut and pecorino cheese ($27.50), sticky and nutty with just a whiff of truffle oil.

Italian desserts rarely make a big impression. They do here in the form of a sublime tiramisu ($12) where every element — the coffee, the mascarpone, the liqueur — is in perfect balance.

Reserva in East Malvern.

DRINK

Sit at Riserva’s marble top bar and you can see staffers polishing glasses, shaking cocktails and swirling wines in fine stemware.

The wine list goes long and deep on Italian reds and whites, bolstered by varietals from France, Germany, Austria and Spain.

There’s also a good brace of beers, spirits aplenty and excellent Illy coffee.

SERVICE

Welcoming from the get-go, attentive and knowledgeable.

X FACTOR

Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse duet as we sit down, Miles Davis is sounding Kind of Blue as we leave ... that’s my kind of wine bar soundtrack.

Riserva also pleases the eye with globe lamps and dimpled glass, black steel and hexagon tiles. It’s a Euro vibe that never calls attention to itself.

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

Excellent. Only one main dish crests $30 and portions are generous.

Expecting hefty East Malvern mark-ups, we were pleased to see a lot of wines by the glass under $15.

Riserva’s forest mushroom risotto. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

VERDICT

When it’s wine o’clock, make Riserva your destination. It’s smartly run, competitively priced and worth crossing town for.

 

RISERVA

395 Wattletree Rd, East Malvern. Ph: 9500 8885

FOOD

European wine bar

HOURS

Mon-Tues, 3pm-11.30pm,
Wed-Sun, noon-11.30pm

CHEF

Andrew Marasco

BOOKINGS

Yes

TIME BETWEEN ORDERING AND EATING

Five minutes

PERFECT FOR

After work tipple, long lunches

DESTINATION DISH

Vongole fresh spaghettini, local bay clams and bottarga

NOISE LEVEL

Very pleasing

ONLINE

riservawine.com.au

Riserva’s spaghettini vongole. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

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SOUTH

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Destination dish: Braised leeks, goat curd, blood orange

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