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Review: Stokehouse delivers compelling new offerings in City context

Dani Valent
Dani Valent

Suits you: Stokehouse City.
Suits you: Stokehouse City.Paul Jeffers

STOKEHOUSE CITY
★★★★
7 Alfred Place, Melbourne, 9525 5555
Licensed AE MC V eftpos
Daily noon-3pm, 6pm-late (bar Monday-Saturday 11am-late)
Entrees: $18.50-$22.50; Mains: $30.50-$45.50; Desserts: $17.50-$18.50 (2/3 course lunch $49/$59)
Theme: Business Lunch

When St Kilda's Stokehouse burnt down in January 2014, Melbourne lost a favourite venue. Tears spilled, teeth gnashed. Six months later, owner Frank Van Haandel elbowed another of his restaurants, Comme, out of the grand Mietta's building and installed a version of Stokehouse in its place, as though Melbourne should never be without its Stokey. Stokehouse City was meant to draw regulars but it hasn't turned out like that. Apparently St Kilda folk don't much come to the city and CBD lunchers tend to keep meals short and wine consumption tight. Rolling out of lunch at sunset, ties akimbo and shirts untucked, doesn't really play when the office is a tram stop away.

So what is Stokehouse City? There's a bar and casual dining downstairs and a more formal restaurant above. Proportions are grand, tables are well-spaced. Light spools. The feeling is crisp and contemporary. Service is on point. I lunched upstairs, where chef Ollie Gould's food is thoughtful and skilful. You can eat it just because you're hungry; you can also appreciate it as cuisine. The sirloin is impeccable, served with silky potato puree and mushroom butter. A pumpkin dish is more technical, with four preparations of pumpkin (salt-baked, roasted, pureed and curried, shards of blackened skin), compressed pear, citrus-braised witlof and grains. Sounds tricky, eats easy. The bombe dessert (meringue, strawberry sorbet, white chocolate parfait) is a Stokehouse classic but is now more petite. Don't blame dainty CBD appetites – the resize is because the old bombe moulds melted in the fire.

Some changes are forced upon us; the measure is how we manage. It's a credit to the Stokehouse team that they're keeping the flame alive (bad metaphor, sorry) and simultaneously creating a compelling new restaurant. A rebuilt St Kilda Stokehouse is to open next year; Stokehouse City will be retained.

Dani ValentDani Valent is a food writer and restaurant reviewer.

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