Pure South Dining restaurant review 2024

It’s been giving Victorians a taste of Tasmania for at least two decades. So is this Southbank darling still worth your time?

If you know you know. Tasmanian oysters are unmatched. Pictured: Jason Edwards

He thrust his gloved hands into the salty lagoon depths, yanked one out, knife-skirted the edges and gave it to me.

“You’ll never have an oyster quite like this”.

He wasn’t wrong.

I was on the east coast of Tasmania, two years ago, dealing with a grouchy tummy that hadn’t been fed since 5am. And now, it was lunch time.

I suckled it clean from the shell, still dripping in its sweaty potion.

A sublime, soul-awakening, unadulterated experience that continues to live rent free in my mind.

Restaurant oysters aren’t like this, they never will be.

At Pure South, they came ever so close, the salty elixir winking with nostalgia as it went down the hatch.

If you know, you know.

Pure South’s presentation is an artistic expression. Picture: Jason Edwards

The Blue Cod dish was something to behold. Picture: Jason Edwards

These clever touches don’t go unnoticed on chef David Hall’s menu, and explains why the Southbank’s riverside darling has withstood the twists, turns and tummy churns of the last two decades.

I’ve been to Pure South several times over the years, and can confirm this vintage is as good as those that precede it.

The casual street level kitchen and cafe remains, as does the posher offering upstairs.

Those boastful Flinders Street Station and CBD views are even sweeter and more pleasurable from the top floor when the summer breeze rolls in from those giant retractable windows overlooking the promenade.

Founder Phillip Kennedy’s team remains largely the same. OG restaurant manager Peter Leary, tipped into the business in 2006 and has been here ever since.

The same year Marco Vecchio came on as bar manager.

In 2015, Aaron Zablocki took over as sommelier, just as Hall stepped into the kitchen; writing his love letter to the Apple Isle in every dish.

Don’t forget to add some chips. Picture: Jason Edwards

Talk about a nice way to end the night. Picture: Jason Edwards

Almost everything on the menu, 100 per cent of proteins and more than 50 per cent of other ingredients, is from Tassie.

Including those oysters ($32 half dozen, $64), from Craig Lockward’s Lease 65 farm in St Helens, equally as pleasurable in their own juices or lemon-charged.

Hunks of vanilla poached beetroot ($19) come assembled artfully next to beet curls, ghost white goats cheese from Iain and Kate Field’s Tongola Farm, blackberries and sesame praline adding bite and character.

King Island eye fillet ($68), cooked to an exacting medium-rare gradient, is bolstered by a generous bordelaise and accompaniments at an extra cost. The chips are a sensible serve ($10).

Pure South still has some of the city’s best views. Picture: Jason Edwards

Though the blue eye cod ($48) is proof Pure South isn’t afraid of a little fun. A dish brought to life with a fiery mgongo tchobi puree, best described as a spicy black peanut butter. Riffing off the African spice, the squid ink adds another dimension to an otherwise straightforward dish. Hall’s creativity juices spill into dessert. A white chocolate tower ($18) encasing fresh and jellied cumquat is freshened up with a spine tingling cold leatherwood honey and lime sorbet, each ingredient standing confidently in its place with purpose.

The Tasmania love-in lives on in the drinks. On wine, the majority are reasonably priced per glass, including from heavy-hitters Tolpuddle and House of Arras. Same goes for the beers and whiskies.

In all of the visits over the years: for early shift coffees, date nights, anniversary dinners, weekend brunches and lunches, Pure South has been a solid and consistent player in the unstable hospitality game. While you may not get the same life-altering oyster experience, you’ll get a glimmer of how special Tasmanian produce truly is.