Hammer & Tong 412

Wannabe restaurateurs, pay attention: Simon Ward and Dennis Ferreira could teach you a thing or two about survival. The Vue Dde Monde alumni have played the long game with Hammer and Tong. The end goal was always to run a restaurant, but instead of coming out of the gates with all guns blazing when they first took over the defunct Brix Bistrot, they stood back, surveyed the land, and slowly but surely built the business one element at a time. 

What started as a cafe is now an all-day eatery with 45-minute queues for weekend brunch and a fleet of food trucks to take their crab burgers to the streets. Their latest smart decision has been to hire ex-Epocha chef Michael Bolam to help them tackle dinner. 

Those who knew Bolam from the elegant Carlton bistro will be glad to see his carpaccio has migrated to Brunswick Street. Here it's peppery ruffles of beef on the plate in place of venison, with the smart addition of smoked oyster cream giving the dressing of vinegary enoki mushrooms, broad beans and jellied drops of Pedro Ximenez a salty ocean kick. In every other respect, we're a long way from Epocha's dark wood balustrades, dessert trolleys and cut glass.

Hammer and Tong provides a graphic designer's office-style backdrop. It's a long room in three parts, united by polished concrete, white bricks and mottled metals with decorative features like the framework of an old sound-mixing desk. Seating options run from a main communal table to bar seats and window benches facing out to the street. It's a lean, clean canvas that lets let's the food do the talking. 

Bolam is venturing both new and old ground here, incorporating the south-east South-East Asian ingredients Hammer and Tong loves and revisiting his high training from London's Ledbury. He's also taking some chances that could sink a lesser chef. 

A tranche of compressed watermelon comes out looking like a giant piece of tuna sashimi, dressed with an earthy hazelnut and black olive crumble with a slightly sweet torched goat's cheese "marshmallow" and a lurid swipe of pea puree to the side. It's a dish that takes you from fear to relief in 0.3 bites – a fresh, tart, creamy and crunchy mission statement for a small plate-focused menu with an emphasis on fun.

It's hard to nail down the style. Contemporary is probably the only label vague enough to cover all bases. One minute you're eating a nasu dengaku-like dish of miso-glazed Japanese eggplants showered with charred corn kernels and furikake (that fishy, nutty, salty Japanese spice mix). Next it's an Oktoberfest number of braised, shredded, crumbed and deep-fried oxtail with a fluffed up horseradish cream and fruity pops of pink peppercorns. 

Whatever you call Bolam's food, the take-home message is: it works. You get the sense that he's doing what he wants and having fun.

Bolam may might take a slight turn towards 1975 with Moreton Bay bugs wrapped in bacon and doused in a riesling beurre buerre blanc, paired with a hillock of rich and garlicky risoni. It's a world of gut-busting richness but a can't-stop-won't-stop proposition. There's even a glimmer of progressive-Australian in rare slices of roasted (slightly gummy) lamb rump plated with eucalyptus-infused petit pois, providing a light, numbing freshness to the warm, buttery emulsion that washes around the peas and fresh iceberg leaves. It's a cleverly subtle use of the potent antiseptic.

The careful plating may tell a story of serious intent, but your overall experience definitely stays on the casual side of the fence. There are no rules. At the same time, Team Hammer and Tong have always punched above their its their weight on the service and drinks front, which means help is at hand if you need a guided tour of the Loire or the smaller vineyards of Victoria.

The question here is not whether Hammer and Tong's package is good, because it is. The question is whether the kebab- and burger-filled Brunswick Street - once a land of innovative dining - is ready to pick up what they're putting down.

Hammer and Tong is fighting the good fight for exciting dining here, and for the first time in a long time, it looks like they could win.

THE LOW-DOWN
The best bit Serious dining returns to Fitzroy
The worst bit Is Brunswick Street ready yet?
Go-to dish Compressed watermelon, goat's cheese marshmallows, olive and hazelnut soil, $16 

How we score
Of 20 points, 10 are awarded for food, five for service, three for ambience, two for wow factor.  
12 Reasonable 13 Solid and satisfactory 14 Good 15 Very good 16 Seriously good 17 Great 18 Excellent 19 Outstanding 20 The best of the best