Molli, Abbotsford restaurant review 2024

A new flame-powered restaurant by the Mulberry Group has something for everyone, including a perfectly plump BBQ chicken worth clucking about.

Molli is the perfect middle-ground restaurant for your cost of living funk.

Meet the “middie”.

Not the beer size, but the mid-price restaurant we foodies are frothing over.

Merely existing day to day in Melbourne is expensive right now, so it’s no wonder the average restaurant spend per person is down.

But new data by booking platform OpenTable shows we’re willing to spare some dosh on the perfect in-betweener. Compared to tux and tie or cheap eats, interest in the “middie” is up.

Molli in Abbotsford fits the bill nicely.

Casual-cool, fancy if you feel like it. You won’t break the bank, unless you want to.

It’s the latest venue to be spat out of the Nathan Toleman-Mulberry Group restaurant factory (Hazel, Dessous, Liminal), opening at the base of a new, red-brick apartments on Mollison St (hence the name) last month.

Seaweed crackers are a fancy riff on the Sakata.

Responsible for the ultimate snack sanger.

The vast 100-seater is New York warehouse meets Hamptons country lodge.

Think dark timber floors, exposed red brick walls, an L-shaped bar separating lounge from dining room and compact kitchen.

The vibe is northern suburbs grunge with a south-of-the-river personality.

Molli may seem like every other new-age restaurant around town, run by a hot young chef with a snack-heavy menu high on charcoal smoke and pretension.

But under chef and co-owner Aleksis Kalnins’ (Matilda, Hazel) watch, Molli surprisingly dodges the menu cliches expected from a big ticket group.

There’s an excitability, a passion behind the cooking, and too many deliciously different things I want in my mouth at once.

Start with a wild umami hit via those seaweed crackers ($10).

The elite Sakatas are dusted in a nori powder which packs a similar whack of intensity as those MSG loaded 2-Minute Noodle sachets you inhaled as a kid. Swipe in that mushroom ketchup for best results.

Pork neck skewer was tender and sweet.

The potato rosti is aptly sized for its richness.

It’s best washed down with a glass of house-fizzed kombucha.

Bar boss Kayla Saito (Dessous, Black Pearl) nicked some cumquats from Alexis’s mum’s tree last year, cooked them down and spiked with mirin, honey syrup and sencha tea leaves to create a complex, zero-proof bev. It certainly punches above for booze free.

A stubby potato rosti ($12), just larger than a casino chip, is suitably sized for its richness; squiggled in sour cream and chives.

While the pork neck skewer ($14) is best matched with a huff of flat bread ($9) and shallot custard for a DIY taco. This way adds more of a savoury dimension to the sweet date puree it’s served with alone.

The spatchcock ($46) is where Molli shines.

Juicy flesh bursting on knife’s impact, the dainty bird has so much meat, BBQ singe and citrus you’ll be suckling every last bone clean. A richness matched by a splash of Rhone Valley roussanne blend, or countered by something buzzy from the alternative Aussie and Euro wine list. Choice $12 glasses and $7 pots of beer keep things well within budget.

Molli restaurant review. Casarecce. Picture: Supplied

My only gripe? The kitchen goes a little heavy handed on the salt at times.

Short twists of casarecce ($28) pasta, glossed in a peppery, fermented tomato sauce probably didn’t need the extra fuzz of goat’s cheese.

While the sharpness didn’t spoil the experience, the theme became more noticeable by the end of the night.

What I do like about Molli, and restaurants that follow suit, is the deliberate effort to inject more freshness through specials.

Broccoli and radicchio salads all get a whirl on our visit, breaking up the winter richness.

Molli is what we need right now, familiar and fun, dynamic and different.

Let’s hear it for Molli and the “middie”.

Molli channels northside grunge with a south of the river personality. Picture: Tim Harris