Cutler and Co Bar review 2023: Kara Monssen visits Fitzroy stalwart

Stop looking. We’ve found one of the city’s most pleasurable hamburger experiences in the unlikeliest of places.

I really don’t like using the F word in reviews.

It wouldn’t get past the subs, that’s for freakin’ sure.

But only big fat ‘f’ descriptors come to mind after dropping by Cutler and Co’s bar.

Yes, the front bar in the fancy Fitzroy fine diner that’s been around for almost fifteen years (OK, I’ll quit it with the Fs).

For those who can’t spare a few hundred on a candlelit dinner out the back, there’s a friendlier option upfront.

You’re on the other side of the black-framed glass divide, in a lighter and airy space within earshot of the 86 rattling down Gertrude, that doesn’t skimp on the marble top tables, cushy leather stools or crystal glassware.

Mic-drop good scallops. Picture: Annika Kafcaloudis

Warm savoury choux doughnuts. Picture: Annika Kafcaloudis

It’s where the chefs get a little footloose and fancy free: flipping burgers, fiddling with fruits de mer (raw seafood platter) and fromage over fois gras and fish of the day.

Though you can get that too, (a whole flounder this visit) or a porterhouse, if you please.

Home to Melbourne’s elite savoury doughnut ($32), made from a flash-fried choux that’s cloud light and hollowed in the centre for you to plaster in creme fraiche, chives and salmon roe at your leisure.

Or mic-drop good scallops ($9 each), pert and buttery, slicked with crumbly ’nduja and its volcanic oily juices.

You can’t forget the pasta bake (pipe rigate; $32), half moon cups swimming in a vodka-spiked red sauce, with the right amount of burnt bits reminiscent of home cooking fails that surprisingly pay off.

Is Cutler and Co Bar Burger one of the city’s most pleasurable? Picture: Annika Kafcaloudis

And dare I say, one of this city’s most pleasurable cheeseburger ($30) moments.

A thick O’Connor patty blushing pink and bleeding gloriously meaty juices, slotted between two seeded brioche buns and melty comte.

A vegetarian’s worst nightmare and a big F-Yes for carnivores everywhere.

DIY extras are served on a silver platter; so pimp your burger with as many dill pickles, rings of white onion, butter lettuce, tomato and secret sauce to your choosing. Extra points for those lattice potato crisps on the side.

As for drinks, there’s something for all.

A Northstar of wine lists which runs as deep as you wished your pockets could afford, alongside a roll call of regional wonders and local hits that won’t break the bank.

They do Rockford’s Basket Press by the glass, local brews and sake.

Can’t afford Cutler and Co? Try the bar. Picture: Kristoffer Paulsen

But even the zero-proof pours share a flavour and drinking experience almost identical to the real deal. You can thank sommelier superstars Penny Vine and Liam O’Brien for the pleasure.

They’re the brains behind the riesling-ish wine alternative that’s prickly and Germanic in style, but won’t cause sore heads come the morning.

Or the oaky blackberry elixir that shows the most likeness to a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Yes it lacks body but does everything else you’d expect.

Textbook service really hammers the whole experience home.

What were those F words, I hear you ask? Faultless, flawless, finesse, formal, fabulous.

No longer should Cutler and Co Bar be filed under ‘forget it, it’s expensive’.

It’s ‘freakin’ fabulous’.