Libertine

I have a soft spot for the ugly ducklings of the food world, those dishes or ingredients that look unappealing but please the taste buds and tummy. There's celeriac, that unappealing bunion-like vegetable so easily magicked into salad or soup. And oysters: nothing more than hideous jellied mucus, till you eat them.

Then there's Libertine's mushroom-and-chevre tart, part of a recent lunchtime menu du jour. The tart didn't look much: a tall wedge cut from a large pie with a dark skin and a cuff of raggedy pastry. I'm nothing like a real man, so I couldn't send the quiche packing. Instead, I steeled myself for a disappointment which, happily, never eventuated.

The first forkful unearthed a gloriously gooey glob of goat cheese. My ensuing enthusiastic mouthfuls revealed earthy, buttery mushrooms in a not-too-eggy tumble. The pastry case was a perfect balance of crumble and crisp. I swanned my way to a clean plate, then sat back to enjoy simply being there.

Libertine is a gorgeous dining room: cosy and unashamedly French, with the requisite tasteful nude, mirrors, sumptuous tapestries and a wall lined with empty wine bottles, each like a diary entry of a good meal and a great time. If being here doesn't have you pining for that magnificent jaunt in a 2CV around Provence, it will have you planning one - though maybe with four cylinders and sat nav.

Meanwhile, the North Melbourne equivalent of a Gallic gourmet hidey hole will more than suffice and, even better, the down-to-earth Anglo owners will never sneer snootily as you mangle the pronunciation of "menu du jour".

Zoe Ladyman and Nick Creswick opened Libertine nearly three years ago. Ladyman covers front of house and wine; Creswick does the food. They met at East Melbourne's romantic (now defunct) Bistro Balzac, then worked in London for four years where Ladyman continued wine studies and snuck off for a vintage in Bordeaux. They came back in 2004 and transformed a clapped-out Chinese takeaway into this winning, wine-loving den.

The nice-price luncheon menu is offered Tuesday to Friday. Last week, as well as the mushroom tart, there was a textured, warm vichyssoise (leek and potato soup); a Lyonnaise salad with lovely greens, sausage and poached egg; superb snow-white roasted rockling on spring onions; and a rhubarb brioche with custard. Everything was delicious. The portions were petite, but not skimpy: I walked out, rather than rolled, which isn't a bad thing at lunchtime. And even though we were there on a budget, we weren't treated like scumbags. Coats were whisked away, water was topped up, we felt no pressure to hurry along. Coffee was a bit of a body blow at $4.50, but came with mini-madelines that I read as an apology.

There's plenty of opportunity to splurge on food and wine here, though even the big-ticket items are pretty reasonable, such as the daily roast game bird for two at $70. I saw a gorgeous duck a l'orange presented to another table, prompting more thoughts of ugly ducklings and their potential. I came to Libertine a bargain-hunting tightwad with ragged plumage. I aim to return as a splurgy spender in my finest feathers. The value of the set-price lunch surely goes both ways.