Previous SlideNext Slide

The word “icon” is often chucked around willy-nilly, but when it’s thrown at the Stokehouse, it sticks. The two-storey restaurant on the St Kilda foreshore, with its posh upstairs and casual downstairs components, has been defining a type of casual-elegant Aussie beachside dining since 1990. It did so even after being engulfed in flames in 2014 before returning nearly three years later, completely transformed but still familiar, like an actor in the James Bond franchise. That in itself makes Stokehouse iconic.

We all have our favourite Bond, and the latest iteration of the ground-level dining room, transformed into Stokehouse Pasta & Bar about a year ago, will be high on many people’s list. Helmed by Hugh and Pete van Haandel, sons of owner Frank, the most recent iteration is studiously, deliberately about avoiding anything radically different. This is a diner where the menu bristles with crowd-pleasers: schnitzel, fish and chips, crab spaghetti, tiramisu, rib-eye, tuna, gelato.

What is radical, though, is serving reliably solid, often excellent, versions of these ostensibly simple dishes when simplicity – particularly when being performed for hundreds of diners at a time – is one of the hardest restaurant tricks to pull off.

Having chef Jason Staudt at the wheel helps. Staudt is responsible for the food at Stokehouse upstairs being the best and most clear-eyed it’s been in years. Giving him responsibility for the downstairs menu, too, explains why Stokehouse Pasta & Bar feels less like a separate entity and more like a family-friendly diffusion line.

How else to explain a dish like the pretty raw crudo plate ($30), a selection of fresh seafood – salmon, kingfish, and, the winner on the day: sweet, buttery Abrolhos scallops from WA – dressed with a clean-lined, citric combo of olive oil with pale pink pomelo pieces, diced radish, baby capers, a little onion and dill?

There’s similar finesse, care and excellent ingredients in the pitch-perfect Bolognese arancini ($11 for two): the insides all risotto rice and meat sauce flavoured with trim from the restaurant’s salumi plate; the breadcrumb crust shattering satisfyingly; the accompanying pale, green oregano and mayo emulsion adding just the right smidge of fatty richness.

Pasta is obviously on the agenda and treated seriously. All the extruded pasta is made in-house, with only the filled pasta (spinach and ricotta tortellini during my visit) outsourced to Fairfield artisans Pasta Poetry.

If you eat and appreciate pork, do not miss the campanelle ($20/$32). The pasta texture is great, offering a little finely tuned resistance, while the sauce, deftly seasoned, is a kind of white ragu with pork and fennel sausage meat braised in chicken stock and tossed with crisp-fried pieces of cavolo nero.

Spaghetti with spanner crab, garlic and chilli ($23/$34) might be too polite with the chilli for some, but fried breadcrumbs and the silky emulsifying chemistry of crab liquid and pasta in the sauce scores big texture points.

Less satisfying politeness comes with the Stokehouse version of tiramisu ($17), which, in a nod to the restaurant’s family-friendly ethos, comes without alcohol and very little coffee. Some may appreciate the gesture, others will think: what’s the point? Perhaps head for the gelato selection instead.

There’s a definite point to the veal schnitzel ($32), a masterclass in crumbing and frying served with a clever two-sauce combo: an excellent gribiche with boiled egg whites, capers, chervil and dill, and a smooth mustard sauce made with the egg yolks. Waste not.

There’s clever thinking with the wine list, too, a single page of 85 wines all priced at $79. The format eliminates the price factor, opening up the possibilities of drinking something you haven’t tried before: German riesling, Beechworth shiraz, funky field blends from the Adelaide Hills or perhaps Italian rosé. Watch for the bargains scattered across the list, too.

Sitting in the casually elegant room with its herringbone brick floors, blonde wood furniture and floor-to-ceiling windows framing views of the bay and boardwalk, it’s hard not to fall in love with the place on location alone. Add the quality of the food, drink and service, and you quickly understand something special is going on here. Iconic even.