Victorian produce on show at Edwin in Southbank

There’s only one question to be asked of the first restaurant to truly celebrate Victoria’s wine and produce: why has it taken so long? What’s even more surprising is its unlikely Melbourne location, writes Dan Stock.

Why hasn’t this been done before?

It’s not like there’s a dearth of extraordinary stuff from the earth at the fingertips of our restaurateurs.

While our chefs increasingly walk the local talk and our sommeliers are increasingly getting over their cultural cringe, we astonishingly haven’t had a venue creating its offering exclusively from Victorian produce.

Until now.

And though it might sound a little like primary school sports day chant (“Victoria’s the best, chuck out the rest”), it’s properly exciting to see local producers being celebrated across a whole carte and cellar.

Victoria on a plate: the meat and cheese platter is a happy hour bargain. Pictures Rebecca Michael.

Softies come from Daylesford, mixers from Kyneton’s Strangelove. Cheese is selected by Marie at South Melbourne Market’s Emerald Deli, charcuterie is from central Victoria’s most excellent Istra.

You want a cheeky nip? Dromana’s Jimmy Rum is on the shelf, along with Bayswater’s Bakery Hill peated malt whisky and White Light vodka from Armadale. There’s eight types of gin (among them Patient Wolf, Brogan’s Way, Bass & Flinders) and even curacao for cocktails, made in Collingwood.

But what’s even more surprising is that this thoughtful curation of small-scale producers is found in the restaurant of a big-name hotel.

Edwin Wine Bar and Cellar (to give it its full getting-told-off-by-mum name) is part of the new Shadow Play hotel in Southbank, and is a day-through-night offering that, thankfully, doesn’t look like it serves eggs over easy and bain marie beans when happy hour strikes.

Moody Melbourne: a palette of grey and black captures the Melbourne vibe.

It’s a dark, moodily Melbourne room that — while isn’t wine bar comfy — does have handsome, plump leather banquettes running the perimeter of the room behind which gossamer grey curtains turn the Clarendon St bustle into a ghostly parade of lights.

With black chairs surrounding dark-stained tables set with linen napkins and large Riedels, the scene is a rather elegant one.

Speaking of happy hour (3pm-6pm), just $16 will get you a board laden with those meats and cheeses.

Maffra’s terrific cloth-aged cheddar, a creamy, approachable blue from Tarago River and a mildly pungent and very more-ish washed rind from L’Artisan join slivers of salty prosciutto and spicy beef pastrami and hot Croatian salami as well as nuts and prunes and pickled veg. alongside a mound of fennel seed-strewn lavosh and rye crisps.

It’s a bang-on bargain that’s piled high with beaut products.

Gone fishing: Port Phillip sardines.

Add a $5 beer (Two Birds lager this day) and that hour is looking happier by the minute.

Chef Ritesh Patil’s menu is dominated by small-share plates — a pate-piped eclair is a bit of fun, $6 — though a few bigger dishes including slow-cooked Gippsland lamb, Victorian Infinity barramundi and a daily steak supplied by Hagen’s Organic are also offered.

Though we’ve almost left cassoulet season, the version here is still worth visiting in sunny spring.

Fruit-fed Great Ocean duck, well rendered so it’s crunchy of skin and meltingly soft and sweet of meat, comes on a pond of creamy, hock-smoky white beans with slices of pan-crisp black pudding adding extra heady richness.

It’s a warming winner that, at $32, is another wallet-friendly plate you’ll likely want to lick clean.

Oh hey, cassoulet: Great Ocean duck with beans and blood pudding is rewardingly rich.

It makes the $14 charged for a few broccolini stalks stand out from the rest of the well-priced menu, though their charry, hazelnut-topped burnt butteriness makes it hard to stay cross too long.

Earlier, top quality sweet-sour soused Port Phillip sardines served with golden raisins, pine nuts and pickled shallots needed a touch more agro to balance the dolce, but no faulting the plump, clean-tasting fish ($19).

A soundtrack with loungy jazz vibes has more personality than you usually hear in a hotel; ditto staff who know the drill and can confidently veer off script.

Featuring bottles from each of Victoria’s 21 wine regions, the wine list is an exciting collection of smaller, independent producers, though it does come with hotel mark ups.

Commendably, half of the cellar is filled by female winemakers, tended to by sommelier Yu Kurosawa, who turns her attention to a different region each month to highlight by the glass.

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A tsunami of room nights is about to hit Melbourne, with a W Hotel, Ritz Carlton and a CBD version of the Mornington Peninsula’s ultra-luxe Jackalope just some of the hotels scheduled to open in 2020.

Not on the same scale, but in its own fashion leading the way, Edwin proves it’s possible to not only throw away the cookie cutter when designing hotel F&B, but for a mission statement to actually mean something: supporting local.

Edwin is a win for the Big V, and that’s worth raising a glass (of Mornington pinot) to.

EDWIN WINE BAR AND CELLAR

308 City Rd, Southbank

Ph: 7004 0400

edwinwinebar.com.au

Score: 14/20

Open: Breakfast, lunch, dinner daily

Go-to dish: Great Ocean duck cassoulet