The iceberg lettuce number, was almost the dish of the night. Picture: BRENTON EDWARDS Source: The Advertiser
THE owner's decision to switch focus and create his own French revolution has added fresh verve to a revered Hyde Park venue.
Perhaps the timing is mere coincidence, but the recent opening of The Pot Food and Wine seems an appropriate marker for our apparently precarious finances. It also shows that tightening the purse strings doesn't have to spell gloom, doom and beans on toast.
The symbolism goes beyond the brown paper pasted crisscross on a wall and the recycled milk bottle carafes. This brilliant little restaurant shows, I reckon, that while the excessive and the overblown might have had their day, there is still room for a smart operator with a feel for what the customer wants.
The Pot is a crossbreed from either side of the Pyrenees, the classic fare of a French bistro served with the flexibility of a tapas bar. From lunch, through the afternoon and night, it offers a series of entree-sized tasting plates, most of them designed to share, that can be built into a snack, a light lunch or a full sit-down extravaganza.
It's the same menu no matter the time. Want a glass of wine, with a bowl of olives (or not), on your way home from work? That's fine. A plate of rabbit rillettes and then poached skate wing at three in the afternoon? Why not?
It's a quantum leap for the premises that was, until late last year, The Melting Pot, Hyde Park's little shrine to gastronomy that specialised in multi-course set menus determined by the chef.
Now, after a decade of fine dining, owner Simon Kardachi has changed tack and put the customer in charge.
Gone are the white tablecloths, sage paintwork and original artworks. In their place is brown paper, covering the tables and stuck on a feature wall, an effective foil to a colour scheme of steel blue and autumnal bronzes and golds.
The kitchen at the back has been opened to the dining room and there's a new bar down one side, with a scattering of stools for a pre-or-post-dinner drink.
It's far more relaxed, with the emphasis on enjoyment rather than serious contemplation and, as you might expect, the clientele, on this night at least, seemed a younger, more exuberant group. However, it's in the kitchen where the true (French) revolution has taken place. Kardachi has long been inspired by his visits to the Michelin-starred temples of French cuisine. Now he's venturing around the corner, to the less fashionable addresses, and tucking into bistro dishes that aim to satisfy more than startle.
So you will find plates of charcuterie (perhaps pork, lamb brain and date terrine), tartares of wagyu beef or ocean trout, confit duck and sticky lamb with macaroni cheese. All in those smaller-sized serves and priced from $14 to $17. Clever.
Even more customer-friendly is a wine list where every bottle under $100 is available as half a bottle for half the price. Your half is poured into an old milk bottle (an effective, if eccentric carafe) at the table; the other half is sold as is, or by the glass - or, if all else fails, shared among the lucky staff.
It's exceptionally generous considering the quality of cellar ongoing from the previous restaurant. You might start, as we did, with the splendid 2005 Comte Lafon chardonnay, and then move to Steve Pannell's nebbiolo from the Adelaide Hills.
For those with deeper wallets, there's plenty for more than $100 - right up to the '95 Romanee Conti La Tache Grand Cru, at $2350.
We began with an exquisite appetiser each of creamy, herb-flecked scrambled egg, served on a square of toast and topped with shreds of blue swimmer crab flesh. It disappeared too quickly, in one divine mouthful. Another appetiser of piquillo peppers, jamon and manchego wasn't quite what we expected. The ham and the cheese were finely minced and used to dust the fried green peppers. I'd like the peppers more if they had just a little heat, and certainly a lot more salt.
Both the salads we shared were much more than accompaniments. Iceberg lettuce hearts, tender and sweet, were draped with thin slivers of anchovy (Spanish ortiz), a scattering of boiled egg and capers and an aioli dressing. With its clean, uplifting flavours, it was almost the dish of the night. Similarly, a mix of roasted beetroot, fennel, orange and goat's curd had excellent ingredients all finely balanced. Both salads were perfect food for sharing.
Less successful, and the only real disappointment of the night, was a copper pan filled with a saffron-scented stew of cockles, fish and squid. It was messy to eat from the pan in the middle and our cold plates, with remnants of salad, did it no favours. The cockles and the fish, moreover, seemed slightly overcooked, with the flesh starting to tighten.
It was quickly forgotten with the arrival of a plate of suckling pig, almost indecent in its soft, juicy flesh and sweet piglet flavour - and that was before getting to the exemplary crunch of the crackling. An apple puree with more saffron and more baby herbs was incidental. This is close to the best roast pork in town.
The sharing caper can be a liability at times. I could easily have devoured the entire plate of "poffertjes", delectable little bite-sized pancakes, served with vanilla bean ice cream. They were divided out carefully. The consolation mulberry trifle looked fabulous but lacked the zing you would expect from the berries.
A few quibbles along the way shouldn't be seen to diminish the achievement here.
THE RESTAURANT
THE POT FOOD AND WINE
160 King William St, Hyde Park.
Phone 8373 2044.
Open: Tuesday-Saturday, noon-10pm; Sunday, noon-6pm.
Seating: 50 (including bar).
Wheelchair access: Yes.
Owner: Simon Kardachi.
Chef: Ashley Brandon.
THE VERDICT
THE BILL
Appetisers: $4-$9.
Tasting plates: $14-$17 (wagyu beef, $35).
Desserts: $9-$12.
Vegetarian options: Not much beyond very good salads.
BYO: By arrangement.
SUMMARY:
Brilliant take on a French bistro, with a flexible approach to eating and drinking.
SCORE 15.5/20
Score guide: Below 10: Awful. 11-12: Fair. 13-14: Good. 15-16: Special. 17-18: Outstanding. 19: Brilliant. 20: Perfect.
