French
Much has been written already, early in the life of this Queen (Reine) & Street (La Rue) restaurant, that could perhaps become a temple of gastronomy for the Melbourne dining scene. The confidence I had in booking a Friday night weeks out from opening, was almost purely on the reputation of sister Nomad.
Having started to write about our experience at Reine (the restaurant part of this venture) what I’m left with now is a sense of longing for more. More oysters; more Savoie; more Coral Trout; more eye fillet; and more of everything.
We had three courses of food that was supposed to be four. The oysters and hors d’oeuvres are very enticing, and also very expensive. Catherine thought her roasted scallop with black truffle was quite simply astounding. I tried two oysters from Pambula, and I haven’t had oysters that fresh and beautiful since we were in New York at Brooklyn’s Gage & Tollner. Somehow I can say that the elevated price tag ($8 an oyster is about as high as it gets) is actually worth it. I really couldn’t work out which snack I felt like, and even though the confit rabbit sounds fantastic, going with the anchovy pissaladière was excellent. This is a take on a Niçoise pizza.
During the second course was the moment where we realised that service really does need some time to settle. In such a large restaurant, it often is a roll of the dice as to how good your service is going to be, and sometimes one experience is not representative. In our case we had someone who is reasonably competent, but clearly under the pump. She was friendly too, but just not up to the standard showing through in the food and the venue. Besides being very clear about wanting to space out the dishes, we also saw some growing pains in getting glasses of wine, but one of the sommerliers was extremely attentive and helpful.
We had asked for the coral trout as a separate course to share between the entrees and main, but realised all too late that it would end up coming with our eye fillet steak, pomme frites, and beautifully dressed leafy house salad. It didn’t make a massive difference, but we did feel like it on its own. In any case, it was sensationally cooked, taken off the heat at the perfect time, with a beautiful, deeply rich, lobster beurre blanc, and juicy mussels to complete.
The eye fillet steak was superbly treated as well. Whilst it is not necessarily a steak lovers cut, it was beautifully tender, cooked to order as medium rare, with the right amount of seasoning, a beautiful béarnaise, and tremendous Dijon mustard to accompany. For Catherine and I, it is the right amount, but for others you would need to invest in a heftier option.
By this stage we knew the kitchen was operating at a high level already, very early into the life of this restaurant. There is something about doing classic food extremely well, and this is the place to try that very food. With multiple experiences at Nomad, we are big fans of Jacqui Challinor, who cemented our respect with her fund raising efforts at a Starlight Ball, where she and her team managed to pull off the olive oil ice cream sandwich in spectacular fashion to hundreds of diners for the dessert course.
Wine service here is exquisite with a tremendous list by the glass. It is my kind of list. It’s not purely experimental and on the edge as such, but it does have wines that you cannot easily get, especially the ones we tried. The ‘Marestel’ Altesse from Savoie producer Dupasquier is joyful. This 2017 white wine has such gorgeous texture and weight on the palate, with elegance that has you reaching for another mouthful as you finish your current one.
The Malbec, and the Cabernet Franc, straight varietals, were so good! The former, made in Cahor by Chateau du Cedre, is according to our waitperson the best area in the old world for Malbec. The latter by Philippe Alliet in Chinon is also an example of a part of the Loire that specialises in this varietal. Starting off with a glass of champagne is always a treat, and the Ruinart is one of three to enjoy. We had drunk French all evening and there is nothing wrong with that!
When we got to desert, we had some difficult choices to make. Catherine ended up going against the signature soft serve, and tried the ruby grapefruit which she was very happy with. I had a tough decision to make as well foregoing the chocolate espresso tart. Instead, I had the caramelised apple. It was served in a manner I didn’t expect, a little bit of a deconstructed tarte tatin, but still with the perfectly crisp pastry on the bottom, and surrounded by indulgent caramel. The buttermilk ice cream was needed to contrast the sweetness, but this is a nice dessert, and a meal of its own.
The venue is magnificent. This is a dining room fit for any truly great dining city. Melbourne has some superb restaurants across the spectrum, and this is a compliment to the offering. Reine feels like it has belonged in Melbourne for a very long time and I really hope it is here to stay. There will need to be a tremendous amount of dedication, and the building blocks laid by the owners and senior staff make it realistic to expect it will continue.
