Cityfields Chadstone restaurant review 2023: Kara Monssen visits The Social Quarter

Cityfields is the last restaurant to open in Chadstone’s fancy foodie reboot— so is it a worthy date night destination?

Cityfields is the final piece of Chadstone’s The Social Quarter project.

We live in a city so food and drink obsessed it’s (almost) impossible to eat poorly.

Decent eats exist all around – at the airport, Saturday morning sport, even the doughnut van at the ‘G has a La Marzocco machine churning oat lattes.

But how many of us would book date night at a shopping centre?

When your local does the trick, why square off with Kmart crowds to park, or hip-and-shoulder past the homewares sale en route to dinner?

Potato doughnuts. Enough said.

Chadstone’s bigwigs thought the centre needed a foodie reboot and in March opened The Social Quarter; a flashy new adult play space complete with rooftop bar, brewery and three restaurants.

This included all-rounder Cityfields which, on paper, comes up a treat. Something to satisfy foodies, fussy eaters, families and everyone in between.

The day-to-night eatery is run by seasoned operators Adam Wright-Smith (South Melbourne’s Half Acre), Lazaros Papasavas (Stalactites) and Asaf Smoli (Food and Desire group).

The interior makes you feel a world away from Chaddy – if you’re not facing the Social Quarter glow – with a mix of tan timber and green olive retro laminate tables, neutral leather banquettes, textured white stone walls and ornate lightshades.

Here you can get buzzed on lattes or eat sweets from a roaming dessert trolley; the contents change daily.

Just like eating curried potato chips.

Or sip Singapore Slings shaken in a gimmicky automated cocktail machine (as seen at Raffles Hotel) or spicy margaritas on the rooftop bar overlooking the city skyline. You can also get chicken schnitty or a burger. Did I mention steak night, and the kids and banquet menus

Maybe you’re here to try Euro-fare by executive chef Tim Martin (Untitled, The European, Taxi Dining).

Pastas, massive salads or simple classics such as a cheeseburger and fries or a chicken schnitzel with cabbage and fennel salad may do the trick, but I leant into less obvious bites: pillowy potato doughnuts (as the French would say: pomme dauphin, $16) dusted in a green saltbush powder moss, are gloriously warm and stodgy.

The salty fries are best on plate.

They’re even better dunked in a cheesy fondue riding alongside.

Swiping warm hunks of bouncy focaccia in curry-laced pumpkin dip ($16) is also hard to pass up: the fried curry leaf and shallot crunch reminds me of wolfing down packet curry chips.

The grilled trout ($39) wading in a golden beurre blanc (French white sauce), with zucchini doesn’t set my world on fire, though the well-priced glass of zippy Margaret River chardonnay does.

The scotch ($56), charry and juicy where it counts, is also ho-hum, though those salty fries sweetened the deal. My inner child clocked dessert first: a soft serve made from fior di latte (mozzarella cheese) spiked with milo affogato and macadamia liqueur ($14).

It sounds fun until you realise the liqueur overwhelms it all.

Cityfields casts a wide net to lure whoever walks through those centre doors.

But I wonder whether harnessing the offering may give this place a stronger identity and make this Chaddy restaurant a date night destination.

It’s not there yet for me, but I’ll be back for those potato doughnuts when I’m on my next shopping spree.