Good Service

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Parcs – Melbourne, City – Saturday 18 May 2024 – Dinner

Admitting that I’m confused about a tasting menu is not something I would ordinarily like to do. I feel I need to, as Parcs is the kind of place where what you’re eating makes sense, until you try to begin writing about it.

This is a tiny restaurant by CBD standards. I counted 22 chairs if you include the barstools, making for a warm and intimate room. Only a handful of staff is possible in such a small venue, and the concentration makes for excellent service. This is a model I really like.

The floor staff are complimented by the executive chef, Damien Neylon, who delivers around half of your courses. He’s not one to embellish but you can tell the pride and the deep consideration behind what is on your plate. The level of care extends to a wine list that is exemplary.

There is a strong and intentional theme here at Parcs. It’s new and with that comes a high degree of learning, which I believe will only make the menu stronger from this point. It is not perfect, but there are many excellent dishes, and no poor ones. The staff don’t speak about the theme of sustainability a great deal. Perhaps talking too much about sustainability would take away from the excellence in the ingredients and their treatment by the kitchen. I find the balance impressive.

An example of ingenuity comes in the form of beetroot that is treated like gravlax. There’s a familiarity in the snack though the beetroot itself is quite unique. Another highlight is sweet potato that somehow tricks the mind into thinking it is salmon. The crustacean sauce is incredibly delicious, and the accompaniments are novel, but somehow work. Those accompaniments are potato with bonito cured in juice pulp placed on top, in between lying the green leftover pulp that was used (direct from the local juice store), and some fermented potato, honey and garlic bread.

Even with the substantial amount of food there was no way I was leaving any of that potato bread, and we finished the savoury courses with beautifully cooked cockerel (young male chicken). At this stage there was equally no way I was leaving any of the substantial final course in the form of imperfect strawberries and rhubarb. The flavour packed strawberries must come into the kitchen resembling an ugly duckling, before they are marinated, and used to generously cover an oat meringue, with plenty of kefir cream thrown into the mix, along with kombucha scoby, which is the starter for turning sweetened tea into kombucha. There is a genuinely exceptional degree of experimentation here, and it rarely doesn’t deliver.

One dish that didn’t work for me, but was still enjoyable, was the tuna cured in bull kelp. It didn’t fall apart with that tenderness you often experience with high quality tuna, and the diced belly was not as flavoursome as I would expect. What did work for me was the wines we were trying. As if teasing me to try each wine by the glass, they seemed to be one-upping themselves. From a superb Aligote by Dubois Bernard et Fils, to a deeper and softer Chenin by Bobinet, followed by a Gamay by Chateau Cambon which is such an underrated varietal when well made, finishing with a Petit-Roy Pinot Noir from Burgundy. These are unashamedly fine French wines, well sourced by the restaurant, and all in keeping with the sustainability theme.

I feel like I’ve raved about Parcs. I believe it will get even better than the experience Catherine and I enjoyed. It would be great if it was just a little bit bigger for a casual wine and snack, but I think that is not the point. There is meaning and thought here, and the theme doesn’t dull the offering. In fact, the inventiveness feels like it partly relies on the limitations presented, and the intention to be completely seasonal and sustainable.

Parcs
https://parcs.com.au
198 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Phone +61(3)99727015
info@parcs.com.au

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Coogee Common – Coogee, WA – Friday 19 April 2024 – Lunch

Very rarely do I go out to a restaurant without knowing the first thing about it. In this case, Catherine had long ago aimed to dine here, and I went in blind but confident. If there is anyone who can be trusted to find a great meal, it is my wife.

We arrive on the non-beach side of Cockburn Road, greeted by a beautiful heritage building, along with my Mum, Sher, Sue, and Heinz, who are all well dressed for a fancy meal. I had little idea, but catching up with my family in Perth is always exciting, and they do tend to dress well!

What I now know is Coogee Common has a garden surrounding the restaurant that provides much of what is utilised by the kitchen. There is certainly a bountiful array of fresh produce, and it is beautifully appointed in the creations of the chefs. 

Seated at a large circular table with a terrific vantage point on the corner windows inside, we are beginning at 11.30am and for a moment have much of the restaurant to ourselves (but not for long). There’s plenty of room for the dishes we are about to share, and there’s plenty of time to catch up before we even think to order.

The wine list has the diversity you’d expect at a fine dining establishment, along with some delicous cocktails, and mocktails. Catherine really enjoyed her Spring Fling, and my first glass of wine, a Slate Farm Fiano from Clare Valley, shows vibrancy. My other taste is of the Montague Chardonnay from closer by in Margaret River. For me this is a lesser known producer, highlighting the intelligent building of the wine list with sensible points of difference.

It was tough to narrow down the food options, but with Catherine and Heinz’s help I eventually ordered for the table. I’d start with the highlights, but it was difficult to call out one or two dishes, as the quality across the board was outstanding. Perhaps the surprises are best to mention? The most exceptional dish in my mind was the beetroot salad. Not only superbly roasted (and pickled) by the kitchen, but fresh from the garden, the red beets in particular were some of the best you could hope for.

Almost on a par was the spice roasted carrots, which for me is often a vegetable hard to top. Earlier, gluten-free crispbread and a “garden dip”, along with prawn skewers, and pastrami, for the table, was all superb. The surprise was how delicious the jalapenos and other pickled vegetables tasted on the pastrami plate.

For the larger dishes we had a couple of fillets of snapper go around the table, and besides being perfectly cooked, the skin also remained crisp. I enjoyed the accompaniments, especially the addition of pine nuts and fennel, but Catherine did mention the skoralia (potato and garlic puree) was too strong for her. Lastly, the medium-rare steak was again showing the quality of the kitchen. Not a single mouthful was left, and we had enjoyed a lot of food. There may have been a battle to finish the seaweed and leek left on the plate, which is unique.

Throughout, service had been good, although I didn’t have a seat with a view to the floorstaff, so sometimes was searching for a wine. In comparison with other restaurants during our 12 days in Perth, and Rottnest, this was definitely far above the baseline on service.

For dessert we ended up getting a few, and none of us were disappointed, including Sydney with his chocolate ice cream. In fact, we were very pleased, with Mum even trying the vegan chocolate mousse and prickly pear sorbet and loving it, which is unusual because she rarely has dessert. As I earlier mentioned, fennel is one of my favourite ingredients, so the fennel ice cream grabbed me. Served with a white chocolate draped combination of ricotta and quince, this was a fine end to a terrific meal. Catherine’s pumpkin creme brûlée also tasted as good as it looked.

Garden to table dining is not new, but being so close to the city is novel. It’s exciting to see the risk that Coogee Common has taken, re-establishing a heritage property and planting an entire garden in 2018. Now it is paying dividends with the quality of the outcome. We’d love to be back here on our next visit to Perth.

Coogee Common
https://coogeecommon.com.au
371 Cockburn Road, Coogee
Monday to Saturday 11.30am to late
Phone: 0451 830 371
Email: info@coogeecommon.com.au