Seafood that celebrates summer at Poodle Bar and Bistro in Fitzroy
Luxurious seafood platters, devilled Moreton Bay bugs and sandwiches brushed with chicken fat — this is why Fitzroy’s Poodle Bar and Bistro is worth a visit this summer.
Food
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It’s the sandwich that got me through lockdown.
Just the thought of it was enough to make me smile, to see light in my mind’s eye during the darkest days of Victoria’s nuclear winter.
A fluffy, toasted potato roll filled with a hulking slab of mortadella fried to a crisp and topped with provolone, mozzarella and pickled olives, the Fried Bologna Sandwich was as joyous as the name of the knock-on-the-door pop-up from which it came: Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca.
There was also garlic bread that came with added End of Days comfort in the form of bone marrow butter, and the pine mushroom lasagne was a notable addition to the canon that saw Melbourne through lockdown v 1.
But it was that pimped up sandwich that stole my heart – and likely would’ve stopped it, had I been within Rocco’s lockdown-curfew catchment.
Zoe Rubino and Emilio Scalzo were all set to open their first restaurant in March, but, well, we know why that didn’t happen. But the kitchen was all ready to go so they delivered those sandwiches and other Italo-American fare to those lucky enough to live within 5kms of their Gertrude St home.
But Rocco’s was a temporary fix for uncertain times (though it may live on again elsewhere; here’s hoping), for the two-storey one-time rooming house that has been given a Bergman & Co makeover so it’s now a gorgeously chic mod Italianesque bistro, with lots of tan leather and dark-stained wood and Art Deco flourishes.
But it’s the outdoor patio area out back that has proven the lucky boon for the team, enabling them to open for viable numbers to spritz in the sun.
This is the second Sunday of Melbourne’s Freedom – and it’s a glorious day. Not only is the sun filled with late-spring warmth, Gertrude St is a socially distanced buzz of footpath tables spilling onto reclaimed car parks, Andrew McConnell’s triumvirate of Marion, Cutler and the new deli/produce/coffee purveyor Morning Market taking up and making the most of a whole block of real estate.
It’s a street chef Josh Fry knows all too well, having spent the past years manning the pans at Marion. He’s moved down a couple of doors to Poodle, where he’s turned from sandwiches to a suitably celebratory seafood-focused menu where terrific produce comes wrapped in a none-too-serious bow.
Take his version of a club sandwich.
Three layers of bread are brushed with chicken fat and toasted crisp. Between them come crisped chicken skin and a ham hock terrine, tarragon mayo adding herby lift to the lettuce and tomato. A classic updated ($8 each).
The seafood platter is worth a splurge – though for the quality of produce, at $30 a head, it’s an affordable luxury. There’s fat, juicy Mooloolaba prawns, green lip abalone marinated in soy and mirin and served in its shell.
Sea-salty NSW south coast oysters come with a traditional mignonette but are, for mine, perfect as is.
Freshly picked spanner crab comes simply dressed in chives while a live Rottnest Island scallop, topped with salmon roe, is the ultimate combination of delicate creaminess and exuberant oiliness. A bowl of marie rose sauce with a decent shake of Tabasco is on dunking duties.
A devilled salad of Moreton Bay bug tails comes with a proper kick thanks to its fermented chilli mayo, but it’s its accompanying garlic brioche hot from the oven and swimming in a buttery pond that’s worth its price of admission ($34) alone. There’s one fish (turbot), steak (flank) and pasta (stascinati with peas) outside of the share-y, snack-y.
Super decadent pork and tarragon croquettes come with a daub of pickled rhubarb atop ($9) and make for a fine accompaniment to an alluring smoked lemonade shandy ($11), though much of the young and pretty crowd seem very happy with their spritz and Wet Poodles – an onion-topped wet martini ($20). The short wine list leans Euro with modern interest, with the house pinot gris and cab merlot coming by the $9 glass and $28 carafe.
To finish, a Campari and orange granita, served in fabulous 70s style in its scooped out shell on crushed ice ($9), can be drizzled with negroni for added kick.
It might’ve stared with super sandwiches in winter, but now with serious seafood for summer, Poodle’s patio is the happy new home for Fitzroy’s cool cats.
POODLE BAR AND BISTRO
81-3 Gertrude St, Fitzroy
Open: Wed-Thur from 4pm; Fri-Sun from 11am
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