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Marmelo – Melbourne, City – Saturday 8 March 2025 – Dinner

Once a year it is tradition for the boys to go out for a fancy dinner following the races on the March long weekend, formerly known as Super Saturday. In fact, it is such a tradition that referring it to as “the boys” was once quite reasonable, but now it is better monikered as “the gents”. We’ve had some beauties! Memorable meals, and memorable moments; some even infamous.

When a group of men turn up to a restaurant for dinner there is a different mannerism that comes from the entire service experience, from the greeting, to the banter during dinner, to the ending, which has been fuzzy in our memory on occasion. Tonight it is almost all positive, with a nice pace and vibe to the evening. Marmelo is definitely a good place for a group.

We arrived early and went below to try the bar, Mr Mills. We already knew we were in for an expensive evening, and the drink prices at Mr Mills confirmed our expectation. Somehow, there is no cucumber downstairs or upstairs, so Chef immediately took off a point, but lime in a Hendricks is fine in any case. My Voyager Chenin Blanc was a nice cleansing start after several beers and champagnes at the races.

Once upstairs, by now we were technically a little late, but for some reason we still had to wait a bit longer for our table. Any minor complaints about the evening ended here, as the forthcoming food, drinks, and service were all terrific. We had some epic starters like the Murray cod croquette that is sure to be a continual feature, to the utterly divine spanner crab tart. The Portuguese offerings pack plenty of flavour given the star ingredient of the tart is known for its subtlety; the prominence of the spanner crab showing excellent technique in the kitchen.

Turning to one of the themes in this restaurant, fire takes centre stage upon the delicate skin of calamari, and elevating it to greatness as a result. Alongside, the Skull Island prawns are diced in an acorda (diced bread, coriander, garlic, and egg), with scallops, and pipies. It’s nice, and it’s different, but out of the dishes for the evening it is my least favourite.

Washing these dishes down to begin is a grape variety that I have not tried to my knowledge before. This Encruzado comes from the Dao region of Portugal, and is by Impecavel. It is vibrant and versatile with the starters and entrees, and thoroughly enjoyable. Next we turn towards an equally versatile Italian red for the mains, which is luscious, in the form of Centanni Rosso, consisting of Sangiovese and Montepulciano.

The mains were all impressive. The highlight was the O’Connor rib eye. Thoroughly seasoned, licked by the flame, and every bite was melting in my mouth. I could give or take the peppers with it, but they were nice enough. The Kurobuta pork promised to be just as tender, and it certainly was. This must be the best value offering on the menu. Throw in a delightfully cooked fig, and you have a wonderful pig and fig dish.

Last but not least, the wood roasted cockerel reminds us of the impact the Portuguese can have on perfectly cooked chicken, that in some people’s eyes is closely on the border line to undercooked. The result is juicy deliciousness. I had enjoyed so much food that sides were not a priority, but special mention to the chickpeas and spinach which Jarrod rated as one of his favourite dishes of the night. The potatoes, while perfectly cooked, didn’t need the sauce, making for a soft texture when some crunch would have been appreciated.

It was time for dessert, and even with a generous amount of food through the savoury courses, we were ready to get stuck in. Chef Simon and I shared the wood fired olive oil cheesecake. It was big and rich, and could easily satisfy four people having a taste of dessert. We also had a “pastels de nata” which was the most delicious and most overpriced Portuguese custard tart you can imagine at $16. I guess you need some give and take!

Guy loved his tiny chocolate cup with house made ginja berry liqueur and Amarena cherries, and Jarrod also enjoyed the “Textures of milk”. Some Malvasia Madiera hit the spot with dessert, as a further nod to Portuguese wine (this time one of its autonomous regions). Needless to say we were all pleased with a tremendous dinner, not least of all Simon who had picked the restaurant for this year’s edition of our traditional catch up.

Marmelo
https://www.marmelorestaurant.com.au
130 Russell Street, Melbourne
Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner
03 7035 2999
@marmelorestaurant

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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