Griff’s wine pub has been quietly feeding the faithful for almost two years under it’s latest guise (let’s all try to forget about the Purple Turtle shall we?). On the corner of Johnston and Napier streets in Fitzroy, it’s a stylish and comfy kind of place, with a front bar it can be hard to more on from, even when you’re only moving as far as the stained glass accented dining room, or the conservatory.

I love the feel of Griff’s, the smart cosy feeling, and the real beer. But mostly I love the reasonable mark-up on the wine list. And there is always an interesting bottle or two to try.

We share a charcuterie plate ($29) and a half dozen Streaky Bay oysters to start. The charcuterie was very generous with two types of terrine, duck and pork, liver parfait, salami and proscuitto along with various accompaniments including a delicious pickled cucmber and fennel.

For mains there was

Lamb’s liver was the “Offal of the Day”

“Fish of the Day” was a fish stew with saffron and shellfish.

And baked goat loin.

Griff’s hand cut chips are just that (and are fab with a beer in the front bar)

The Dessert Tasting Plate was terrific, featuring a warm frangipane tart with pears, some custard apple ice cream, a lavender creme brulee and a quince and pear crumble.

We went home very full, and very happy after a second bottle of Cab – well wouldn’t you?

Griffs Wine Pub
Cnr Johnston st and Napier St
Fitzroy
03 9416 5055
www.griffswinepub.com.au

The old corner pub looks a bit like a unassuming from the outside, and you wouldn’t be surprised to find a few oldtimers leaning against the front bar, but the side entrance to the restaurant shows a restrained deco/modern style, with dark wood, good linen and heavy cutlery.

We restricted ourselves to mains and dessert, but to give you a feel for the entrees:-
* scallops, bone marrow, goats curd, beetroot and bacon $23
* Venison Bresaola with persimmons, EVO, shallots and blood plums $18

Tasty starters are tempting, alongside terrine, a vegetarian option and a fish dish as well.

Main meals (there’s no mucking around with small plates, bigger plates and share plates here, traditional entrees, mains and desserts thanks!) move from traditional steak of the day, offal, a couple of fish dishes, Otway Pork Belly and seem quite reasonable at $27 to $35.

We ordered the twice cooked Macleay Valley Rabbit served with brussel sprouts, chestnuts and a thyme jus. Delicate rabbit rolled and roasted was moist and juicy and only very lightly ‘gamey”.

…and Duck Breast with pumpkin walnuts and hazelnuts, which was rich and a little bit on the tough side, but served with thoughtful (if not surprising) garnishes.

We had a chat to our waiter and he suggested a bottle of the Sorrenberg 2008 Gamay from Beechworth. This wine edged toward the a lighter style, but was terrifically savoury and with neither too much acid or fruit. It drank very well with both our mains.

I am a sucker for suet puddings, so I couldn’t go past the Steamed Quince and Suet Pudding – custard, brandied prunes and Earl Grey Ice Cream. The pudding was flavourful and had the texture you only get from suet. The quince was delightful and full of vanilla scent, but the Earl grey icecream wasn’t quite right. Not enough Earl Grey, and perhaps Ice cream wasn’t quite right for a winter meal? Clotted cream maybe?

The service did seem to struggle a little bit the night we were there, one waiter was on his first night, and at least one other was covering from their sister establishment, so the service didn’t hum the way it has done in the past. But the bones are still there, it’s a lovely room, a terrifically interesting wine list and decent food. May not be in line for the next chef’s hat, but it’s real and grounded and not too complicated, and sometimes that’s just what I’m in the mood for.

The Court House
86 – 90 Errol Street (cnr Queensberry)
North Melbourne
Ph (03) 9329 5394

It was a pretty frosty when we headed out, and arrived in Rathdowne street to see our dinner guests standing out on the street…ah why?

Turned out that Black Ruby’s didn’t have our booking due to an answering machine malfunction. Darn it! No room at the inn but the obliging Kate sent us away with a bottle of red to keep us company. It was a nice touch, unnecessary as I realise these things just happen, not much you can do about it but accept it in good grace. So we walked the street for a bit looking for a cancellation – what GFC? Every restaurant except the Rathdown street food store and La Porchetta’s was packed.

We rang around a few places and ended up with a spot in 45mins time at Little Zephyr Kitchen 563 Nicholson Street.

We headed up the road for a drink and Gerald’s while we waited, and ran into some old friends. I like Geralds’s, I just wish it was walking distance from my house. (Or perhaps not!)

We’ve eaten at Little Zephyr Kitchen before, one night when we wanted to go to Bistro Flor, and found it an adequate substitute, some nice flavours, a bit clumsy with some offerings but definitely one with potential.

I think I’m striking a few stars off that potential after last night. It’s not that it was bad, it just didn’t feel very “right”.

We shared three entrees, some tasty borek cigars filled with feta and some nice warming spices, a small Aubergine, split in half and grilled, topped with spice lamb mince, and the standout dish of the night some pan seared calimari with house made chorizo. The chorizo really did stand out as delicious and moreish, crunchy and spicy and a good counterfoil to the calamari.

On to the mains then. We were told that the gnocchi was the ‘best in town” and that the chef had learnt it from Guy Grossi (Did we know who Guy is?), and then warned that it was soft and fluffy, “because we’ve had some comments from people who have been surprised that the gnocchi was soft and fluffy…” like … huh? Too much chatty waitstaff, too much useless information. The Gnocchi was OK.

The seafood hotpot looked better than it tasted …

the lamb pizza – salty and, well, meh, not very interesting fill-er-up stodge.

Atlantic Salmon on fat chips with Hollandaise .. meh.

We had dessert as well, but nothing really stood out there either.

Portions were large, service was OK, but $5 EACH corkage….that was a bit rich. You surely “don’t want to encourage it” as we were informed. I think they could have been a bit more generous about the corkage, I’d explained to them that our booking had been lost when I called, and we did turn over a table for them that wouldn’t have turned over otherwise, and once they offered us a discount to $4 each per person I was determined to drink the 2003 Lethbridge Pinot Noir we had brought with us (for our other planned meal, where BYO is welcome) and then they brought it back to the table on ice!!!!!

So I wasn’t all that impressed this time around, and was actually a bit annoyed about the wine – why don’t you just say no? And your website has annoying music on it that you can’t turn off…one of my pet peeves.

So we left fed, but underwhelmed, but not feeling like we’d paid too much. you know, a bit …meh.