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Carlton Wine Room

Dani Valent
Dani Valent

Antipasto board from Carlton Wine Room.
Antipasto board from Carlton Wine Room.Craig Sillitoe

172-174 Faraday Street, Carlton, 9347 2626
Licensed AE DC MC V
Mon-Wed 5pm-late; Thu-Sat noon-late
Small $3.50-$26; large $24-$37; sweet $15
★★★☆

The one-year-old Carlton Wine Room is infused with the passion of its host Jay Bessell, who owns the place alongside fellow alumni from city stayer Il Solito Posto. Bessell is an enthusiastic wine nut who bounces from table to table to wax lyrical and to theatrically confess, ''I like to drink.'' Cue stage whisper. ''A lot.''

The deep, broad wine list is his baby, as is the warm Victorian warren in which to drink it, comprising a front bar and dining room in the shuddery shadow of mounted pigeons, a cosy rear dining room with window bench, an appealing private cellar that feels like a war room carved into a hillside by General Grenache and Brigadier Bordeaux, and a larger first-floor chamber that would be a gorgeous venue for a small wedding.

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Chef Matthew Silovic (ex-Verge) delivers good upscale bistro fare, displaying clever ideas, solid technique and the judicious application of tricksy flourishes. The menu hedges its bets. There's snacky stuff (olives, oysters, no-brainer chilli soft-shell crab). There are pretty, composed tasting plates (luscious porchetta di testa - rolled pig's head - served with smoked grapes, horseradish ''snow'' and cashews).

There are main courses in sensible entree portions, including beautifully pan-roasted barramundi with caramelised skin and sweet, sticky flesh, backed up by silken celeriac puree. A beef dish was less impressive, the sous vide porterhouse pallid and chewy, the water bath doing this prime cut no favours at all.

I loved the antipasto plate with its crisp, crumbed pig's ear strips, pristine poached calamari and ''fossilised'' Jerusalem artichoke salad. Fossilised? The root vegetable is bathed in a lime solution, which sets and encases the vegetable so, when it's roasted, the moisture is locked in. I don't know. To me, it just tasted good but I didn't experience the fireworks that the description promised. Same with a chocolate ''capsule'' described with such breathless excitement I imagined it levitating. When it was merely a chocolate shell encasing chocolate cream I was disappointed. The descriptions seemed to oversell the food, unnecessarily turning delicious dishes into letdowns.

There's also a potential deflation in the fact Bessell is so bombastic and fun that other waiters, even if efficient and pleasant, pale in his wake. It's tricky: there's no way he could employ a fleet in his image. Best to enjoy the fun when it flits past and, otherwise, find your own fun in feasting.

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Dani ValentDani Valent is a food writer and restaurant reviewer.

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