Bar Thyme restaurant review: Footscray wine bar even better with time

Vintage wares, a record player spinning vinyl and devilled eggs on high rotation. This retro-themed Footscray bar has become even better with age.

There are several in the dining room, more down the hall.

One hangs its hat on hors d’oeuvre and dessert by the trolley load, another shares a fine feast of beluga caviar and grain-fed chicken.

Bar Thyme’s vintage menu from London circa 1976 captures a very different time in food.

It’s when fancy French food was everything, soup was a must before entrees and fish courses were a thing, a moment in history when “more” was, well ... more.

How times have changed.

Less is best these days and that’s exactly what you’ll get at Howard Stamp’s charming Footscray wine bar – without skimping on quality or detail.

The seasoned chef turned bar owner always had a short food offering at his Barkly St restaurant.

But a year after opening, and since farewelling head chef Tommy Hope (Attica), the bar is entering a new phase.

Stracciatella and heirloom tomatoes. Picture: Mark Stewart

While another chef prepares to join the ranks, Stamp dons kitchen whites once more for Bar Thyme 2.0. Think less restaurant and more wine bar, without losing its retro charm.

The turntable on the bar spinning ’70s disco hits was a gift from Stamp’s dad in Britain. Those old-school menus? An op-shop find from 10 years ago.

The 60-seater’s simple fit-out hasn’t changed – green banquettes line one side of the room, tall bar stools the other, timber tables and black chairs in the middle.

A well-stocked, bottle-lined bar at the back is still a spectacle.

Gabriel De Melo Freire (Gerald’s Bar) is responsible for the liquor line-up, while Stamp let his passion for natural and minimal intervention wine inspire the list.

Devilled eggs. Picture: Mark Stewart

There’s no by-the-glass menu, instead a selection of the best cracked open throughout the day. It’s much like the food offering, which changes regularly depending on seasonality or what’s fresh from the market.

At most there are 11 things on the list – a few two-bite wonders, a couple of small and big shares, pudding or cheese for dessert.

Stamp has a good pedigree, he’s run MoVida’s kitchen, worked at Carlton North’s Green Park Dining (now Park Street Dining) and Carlton’s The Lincoln before moving westside.

Stamp’s partner Dijana Necovski occasionally comes in to help, sometimes working the floor or pouring glasses.

Hazelnut and honey parfait with hazelnut and caramelised banana. Picture: Mark Stewart

Begin with Bar Thyme’s signature spritz (sherry, thyme and lemon), a zippy Adelaide Hills chardonnay, or muscadet that pairs perfectly with oysters.

Perhaps you’ll try the anchovy toast, which is one salty sucker adorning a crunchy sourdough soldier spread thick with fluffy ricotta and just the right lemon rind sprinkle. Delicious.

Or step back in time and order retro snack devilled eggs, blasting into this decade with lively curry powder, bright chives and shavings of salty bottagra (cured fish roe).

Next is snow white stracciatella and a medley of heirloom tomatoes, giving sweet, savoury and salty kicks with every bite.

Don’t even get me started on that fluffy potato focaccia bread, which I assume you get when you die and go to carby heaven.

Footscray’s Bar Thyme is evolving. Picture: Mark Stewart

Have mercy on my soul.

Larger plates continue to impress – rainbow trout lolls in creamy gribiche sauce layered with the juices of mussels, sweet leek and a dribble of dill oil (I shouldn’t have eaten all that bread earlier). That crisp salty skin, rich flesh teamed with an indulgent sauce I’d happily bathe in is incredible. Take my money.

Surely Bar Thyme couldn’t get any better, but it does.

A butterscotch chew, no larger than a dice cube, made with salty chicken fat (drool) and szechuan is perhaps the best way to end things. Or that nutty/creamy hazelnut parfait and caramelised banana combo. Or a nip of the strong stuff from behind the bar. Your call.

The seasons change, and so do restaurants.

Bar Thyme is evolving, and the “less is more approach is working in its favour.

When things are this good, that’s all you need.

BAR THYME

227 Barkly St, Footscray

instagram.com/barthyme

Open: Thu-Sat: 5pm to 11pm, Sun: 1pm-10pm

Go to dish: Straciatella, heirloom tomato

Try this if you like: Embla, Melbourne, Abbiocco, Highett

COST: Snacks: ($5-$28) Mains: ($35) Dessert: ($3-$15)

RATING: 8/10