Dan Stock: Carlton Wine Room’s buzzy refresh of a classic adds to Carlton’s food cred
IF it’s been a while since last visiting Carlton, its refreshed wine room is a hot reason to make amends with delicious fare, writes Dan Stock.
Melbourne
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While Smith St, Fitzroy, and Johnston St, Collingwood — and increasingly the Windsor-led revival of Chapel St — take most of the inner-city hot spot oxygen, it’s easy to overlook the top end of Lygon St.
But once it strikes wine o’clock on Friday the buzz around the Nova precinct is palpable, where even on a cold winter’s night Tiamo draws a snaking pavement queue (it’s not just you, Chin Chin).
New offerings — the cicchetti at Heart Attack and Vine, the cheese and wine at Milk the Cow, the funky yum cha at The Roving Marrow — have seamlessly added colour to the more traditional picture of the ruddy of nose polishing off another bottle of shiraz at Jimmy Watson’s.
It’s the particular blend of youth and tenure that the city’s hallowed grounds of learning deposit on this strip that creates a character unique, where the proliferation of grey bobs with chunky jewellery and severe eyeware is only trumped by backpacks and flannel and Converse with holes.
It’s more the former who are packing out the Carlton Wine Room, where the chardonnay cackle proves a piercing soundtrack to this night that even the plentiful sound panelling on the roof can’t mitigate. But who cares — at least everyone’s having fun. And why wouldn’t they be?
This buzzy refresh of a neighbourhood classic delivers all the elements of a good time; just add wine.
The Carlton Wine Room has occupied the corner opposite DOC since 2009, and long-time owner-operators Jay Bessell and Connie Cappello have moved on. They handed the keys to Fiona Sheeran and Domenic Zanellini, who reopened the doors in May. The duo, with prior tenures at Carlton’s Briscola Espresso and the city’s Sarti, have given the old dame a light-and-bright lick of paint, but the formula remains much the same — a spot as welcoming for a cheeky glass and quick bite as it is for a three-course-digestif-with-dessert-why-not? night of it.
And there’s every good reason to settle in, for the wine list, too, has had a makeover, becoming a more accessible affair where the focus on Italian varietals made here and in situ come in user-friendly categories. You’ll find a $35 bottle of Chrismont riesling under “crisp and racy”, say, or a “textured and exotic” $50 vermentino from Heathcote’s Chalmers, while an excellent $89 Chianti Classico from organic producers Poggerino (“medium weight with savoury tannins”) is a nice find on a list filled with them. It’s a joy to read, better to drink from, with service generally backing up the goods in the glass.
The menu reads equally well. Aaron Starling — last year’s Australian young chef of the year runner-up — is doing fine work with the wine-friendly hits with a twist.
Perfectly cooked octopus shows a deftness of touch on the grill, the thick tentacle chunks tender and smoky and elegant as is, but rather brilliant when swiped through dots of celeriac puree and picking up some black olive crumb on the way. At once earthy and sea salty, it’s a winner to begin ($16).
While I also like the subtle saltiness a smoked oyster cream adds to a good rendition of a caper-rich beef tartare, and the delicious chip-toastiness of the sheet “crispy potato”, the chip is too brittle to be used to scoop the goods and disappointingly favours form over function ($18).
A lovely plate of gnocchi is exactly the warming hug of comfort needed on a cold night, the bouncy-soft pillows snuggling into a sauce of nduja — the spicy spreadable Calabrian sausage — and roasted chilli that lends a lingering heat. Taleggio cheese adds a hit of washed rind yeasty funk, while diced broccoli stalks and a few kale leaves fried crisp complete with crunchy greens. As one of just two pastas on the menu, it proves a focused kitchen is a good one ($26).
Nutty Jerusalem artichokes roasted in beef fat until soft and tossed through malted butter and chestnuts is every reason to give thanks to our seasons ($14), while the O’Connor striploin is every reason to give thanks to our canine teeth.
Served with a sharp stout mustard, a deeply savoury Gentleman’s relish (made in-house), a single sour-cream topped potato and bracingly sharp pickled onion, it’s a perfectly executed contender for steak of the year. That it’s just $32 makes it even tastier.
An Earl Grey cake has a sharp kick of bergamot that complements deftly spiced gingerbread ice cream ($14), while a terrifically sticky and deeply smoky treacle tart is perfectly partnered with a silken milk ice cream ($14) for an equally clever full stop to the meal.
It’s dependable, predominantly delicious fare executed with admirably restrained flair. If it’s been a while since last visiting Carlton, its refreshed wine room is a hot reason to make amends.
Carlton Wine Room
172 Faraday St, Carlton
Ph: 9347 2626
Open: Dinner Mon-Sat; Lunch Thurs-Fri
Go-to dish: O’Connor striploin
Rating: 14/20
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