Estelle by Scott Pickett in Northcote: a life’s work in this gem

WHEN Estelle reopened as an accessible neighbourhood bistro after four years as a fine diner, I had my reservations; but it’s a brilliant move.

Taste restaurant review: Estelle by Scott Pickett ESP. Picture- Nicole Cleary

I admit I had reservations. When Scott Pickett announced he would close his four-year-old fine diner, Estelle, and reopen it early this year as an accessible neighbourhood bistro,
I thought it a very clever move.

And then I ate there and thought it a brilliant move. I’ve been back several times and it only gets better; delicious food that’s well priced with sharp service in beautiful surrounds. It’s the complete package.

But far from dead, Scott’s fine dining aspirations now instead take their corporeal form next door, where the degustation-only brief of the original has been refined, and elevated, into a $130 a head, six-course (plus snacks to start and sweet things to end) affair. But if the bistro’s brilliance is its high-end smarts wrapped in an affordable package, would Estelle by Scott Pickett be an exercise instead in high-end hubris, where the chef’s “vision” untethered results in an orgy of ego that we diners are privileged to witness?

My fears were, thankfully, unfounded.

Not only is the space one of the most deeply dramatic and, frankly, stunning dining rooms in Melbourne, but it’s where Scott is serving up a meal of transcendent beauty. Where the lessons learnt throughout a 25-year cooking career have been distilled into a seamlessly cohesive and considered experience, at once an evolution of St Crispin and Estelle, but also very much its own character, with food that’s delicious to a fault.

The Hirsch Bedner Associates design is defiantly Northcote, where, rather than shutting ESP off from High Street’s colour and movement, picture windows make it instead a moving canvas that juxtaposes the theatre that is the open kitchen around which counter seating provides gold circle viewing.

I prefer taking a seat — a stylish, and comfortable, Philippe Starck Caprice chair — at the generously proportioned black or grey American oak tables, set simply with ceramic show plates and black napkins. The custom-made ESP-engraved Laguiole knives come later, but first, three snacks to start, eaten with fingers, which set the tone — refined but not rarefied — most perfectly.

A Jerusalem artichoke crisp dotted with its cream and saltbush is tooth-stickingly tasty; there’s a parmesan and lemon myrtle twiglet that’s lip-smackingly cheesy and a little potato pillow crisp piped with salty tarama.

Consider appetite whet.

The aroma of freshly baked bread hit us upon entry, and a choice of either glossy-sheened pretzel bread or cheesy bacon roll show a kitchen not taking itself too seriously — though the bread, and the yeasty cured butter it’s served with, is.

Highlights are many and, like the snacks to begin, make use of native ingredients without being enslaved by them. To wit: the use of vadouvan — a French curry spice mix — in a brilliant dish of crab (spanner or mud, depending on availability) that’s teamed with roasted florets and shaved raw cauliflower, with whole golden raisins in the cauliflower puree adding a complementary hit of sweetness to the crabmeat.

It’s an elegant, surprising dish.

The snacks to start at Estelle by Scott Pickett. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Manjimup truffle is the lux ingredient du jour, and truffled custard with onion broth is a powerful intro into the night; the crunch and char of the onion adds sweetness to the generous shaving of truffle atop, the custard made from infused eggs a subtle backdrop that allows the truffle to shine.

Some things we’ve seen elsewhere before, whether the hand-rolled macaroni, served here with a piece of sublime veal and sweetbreads, or the lemon curd that ties together a piece of kingfish and calamari that reclaims the use of squid ink, or chefs coming out to serve the dry-ice “soil” with the final dish, a Daintree chocolate and violet dessert that’s another surprisingly delicate textural triumph. This is evolution, not revolution, after all.

My favourite dish was an extra course ($25 supplement) of venison, the dry-aged loin served with roasted brussels sprouts with a pepperberry jus, alongside a skewer threaded with heart and liver.

It’s a bold, unapologetic nose-to-tail statement that’s written in delicious.

The team, led by Stuart Neil, is well versed and well oiled, and the wine service from James Dossen is excellent. There’s inspiration at every turn with the wine match ($110) — the bracing minerality of a Chateauneuf-du-Pape blanc with the oily kingfish, say, or a Georgian rose with the crab — though it would be great to see more celebration of local heroes, as good as the old masters are.

And, though it’s terribly uncouth to speak about filthy lucre over dinner, the reticence of staff to talk costs could leave some with bill shock.

But these are small gripes in what was overwhelmingly a display of hospitality prowess in a beautifully lit space where everyone looks good.

ESP delivers a definitive Melbourne dining experience and is a new jewel in our crown. I had my reservations — now I’ll be hard pressed to get one.

Estelle by Scott Pickett

245 High St, Northcote

9489 4609

estellebysp.com

Open: Dinner Tues-Sat; lunch Fri

Highlight: The room, the food, the works

Lowlight: Credit card surcharge

Score: 17.5/20