There are times where you remember how difficult the restaurant game is, and how much genius and luck is involved when it all comes together perfectly. The important elements can be dissected into incredibly granular detail, most of which are standing side by side like dominos. This doesn’t indicate how Dessous, French for “underneath”, is going during its infancy.

It struck me recently how many restaurants are now around $200 a head for an indulgent meal, where you order whatever you feel like, and drink particularly well. This is even for smaller appetites like ours, and particularly in Catherine’s case, not more than a few glasses of wine. Divergent from other great cities to dine out is the fact that lunch costs the same as dinner in most cases too, so there’s no respite.

How do these separate ideas come together? Dessous was relatively expensive (though not up to the $200 a head mark) but sits where, back only a few years ago, upper-end of the middle-tier (UEMT) restaurants would aim. I’ve completely made this up, but UEMT in my mind is those places with nice fitouts, fine food (as opposed to full fine dining), and relatively attentive (but not perfect) service, that is going to set you back about $100 a head. In this respect I think the goal posts have moved, and are starting to impact how I dine.

In this famous area of Flinders Lane you can find Hazel upstairs, Supernormal almost next door, Kisume and Nomad across the road, and Gimlet up on the corner. You need to be on your game and providing a point of difference to attract a substantial clientele and have a consistently full restaurant. Tonight, Dessous is full, and from my booking experience, it appears to be consistently popular.

As we are seated, besides the charm of the basement level restaurant, and high revelry, there is a darkness that creates an atmosphere of indulgence. I wonder what it is like when you can see? As Angus holds his phone’s torch to the menu, we peruse the menu and sip on our drinks from a nicely balanced list.

The menu is designed to share, and as a result, is split between snacks, smaller, and larger dishes. I cannot recommend enough a focus on the snacks. One taste of the crab doughnut has me penciling Dessous for future bar excursions. Unlike the lobster roll at Supernormal, where I’ve had several, I can only judge on two bites, but this is a destination snack. Directly prior I had my three bites of a scallop sando that was not far off. As I sip my Adelaide Hills Fiano by Oxbow, this is a tremendous start.

The pork hock croquette, pickled Spring Bay mussels, and the red curry corn fritters were great, but they need to step aside for the doughnut and the sando. Expectation levels are growing as we order glasses of the Spider Bill Chardonnay, also from Adelaide Hills. Our smaller share dishes are the double baked gruyere cream soufflé, roasted bone marrow with sticky rice (which I insist upon), and char-grilled albacore (long fin) tuna in chilli sauce with pippies.

The latter of the three is the winner. The tuna is perfectly cooked, with a spice that creeps up on you, making perhaps a more aromatic wine a better match. Sticky rice is uncomfortably sticky with the bone marrow; and it’s hard to top the classic toast and parsley of St John fame, but it is still a dish I would prefer to have tried than not. Lastly the soufflé is disappointing, lacking the full flavour and perhaps seasoning, that is necessary to lift the gruyere cream.

Prawns and pork belly with baked vermicelli is the first of our two larger dishes, and the better of them. While there could always be more prawn meat, there is a good dose of favour in the sauce, and the vermicelli work in well. Wagyu rump cap with XO spinach, and Cipollini onions closes our savoury courses, along with a side of buttered cabbage. I’m not sure if it is luck, but I’ve now had several beef dishes at a series of well regarded restaurants that are just not hitting the mark. It appears that in this case it is the beef, rather than the way it has been cooked, which seems soundly executed by the chefs.

Almost making up for the low point of the beef, is a delicious Sangiovese from Umbria by Cantina Margo. On reflection it seems the general trend of the meal was downhill, but it was not a steep slope, and not without some nice inclines. We were comfortable with the amount of food, and decided to just try one dessert in the form of the jasmine rice pannacotta with citrus syrup. I liked the dish; both refreshing with evident citrus, and comforting with sweet pannacotta. A dish reflecting the cultural influences of the broader menu, and a level of creativity that could elevate the menu over time.

If you accept where Dessous now sits in terms of expense, it is a nice proposition. The concern I have in this day and age, where there are other pressures on disposable income, is whether inflation is going to reverse the dramatic and welcomed swathe of restaurants hitting Melbourne. In any scenario, continuous improvement and growing attention to every detail, could see Dessous part of our dining scene for many years to come.

Dessous – https://www.dessous.com.au/
164 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm
+613 9070 4939
info@dessous.com.au