Featuring: Sebastian, Green Man’s Arms, Palermo, Leonardo’s Pizza Palace…
MELBOURNE’S first vegetarian pub, Green Man’s Arms on Carlton’s Lygon St, has only grown in popularity since it opened just over a year ago.
Naturally, there have been challenges with an untested concept, but owners Fred Whitlock and Alison Whyte, continue to grow the Elgin St pub’s community. In the last two months the husband-and-wife team employed chef Matt Binney as menu and kitchen consultant and sommelier Bronwyn Kabboord to update the drinks list, and the collaboration is giving strength to this Carlton pub with no meat. Binney and Kabboord – who both most recently worked at the now-closed Merricote in Northcote – have been instrumental in building on the pub’s food and wine culture that focuses on seasonality and provenance.
Whitlock and Whyte have 22 years experience owning pubs – the most recent was seven years of owning and operating the Yarra Valley Grand Hotel and this is their first vegetarian venue. “What we’re doing is risky,” says Whyte, “but if we were going to do another pub we couldn’t, with any conscience, do what we were doing before, which was putting steaks and schnitzel on a plate without knowing where it came from.”
Whitlock adds, “We’re uncomfortable about where the food industry is going and maybe this is an extreme response but this is where we’re up to in our evolution.”
The menu changes seasonally and is proving to also work for those who are choosing a more “flexitarian” approach to their diets with weekly meat-free days. The vegetable is the hero of each plate, given the same respect and time as animal protein often receives. The eggplant schnitzel, for example, takes slices of eggplant that are marinated, braised and pressed, then panko-crumbed, fried and served with potato aioli and cabbage slaw. Smaller dishes may include stracciatella with red peppers and grilled chilli dressing, or slow-baked carrots with roasted hazelnuts and chervil. Bigger dishes may take Koo Wee Rup asparagus and toss the spears with sugar snap peas, pea curd, olive crumb and croutons. A leek tart is finished with caramelised shallots, washed rind cheese and petit salad.
The drinks list, recently revamped by Kabboord, has been given depth and she designed it specifically around the plant-based menu.The whites move from structured and lean – chablis example here – to aromatic such as the gruner veltliner, and the reds are light and fruit driven; the Unico Zelo Truffle Hound highlights this.
There’s a changing selection of 12 Australian craft beers and ciders on tap and a list of stubbies and tinnies. The cocktail list is built on Australian spirits, vermouths and liqueurs. 418 Lygon St, Carlton; phone (03) 9347 7419.
Sebastian is a huge seaside diner in a heritage-listed 1930s bathing pavilion in Williamstown in Melbourne’s west. The beach-front location is drawing customers in as they can enjoy lunch or dinner, and can be on the beach for a stroll in no time. Inspired by the food and culture of San Sebastian, Spain, it’s owned by Dave Parker, the restaurateur behind www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/restaurants/san-telmo, San Telmo, www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/restaurants/palermo, Palermo, www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/restaurants/pastuso, Pastuso, www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/windsor/bars/neptune, Neptune and www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/southbank/restaurants/asado-bar-and-grill, Asado, and childhood friend Alex Brawn.
Parker and Brawn employed designers Ewert Leaf and a heritage consultant, and have transformed the Art Deco space into two beautiful dining rooms dressed in blue and white. There’s an elegant diner in one half, a more casual bistro in the other, and a long, spacious deck along the water. The menu includes pintxos such as charred octopus, coal-roasted mushrooms and Cantabrian red and white anchovies. Small plates include Cloudy Bay clams, tarragon, bread crumbs and Chistorra, a homemade spiced pork sausage and apple cider reduction, but the wood-fired grill is the star of the menu with dishes like lamb rump with lemon, sumac, coriander and a 1.2kg O’Connors pasture-fed black Angus steak, served with a small pot of chimichurri. 26 Esplanade, Williamstown; phone (03) 9088 8989.
The building that was once home to Da Salvatore Pizza by the Metre that opened in 1959 in Carlton, is now home to Leonardo’s Pizza Palace, a new pizza joint by Nick Stanton, Guy Bentley, Mark Catsburg and Jonathan Harper, the team behind casual fine diner, Ramblr and Leonard’s House of Love (a roast chicken joint) both in Prahran.
Some of the building’s history has been maintained with 70s-style timber panelling on the walls, stacked terracotta wine racks behind the bar and terrazzo floors, it gives it a lived-in, very comfortable vibe.
There’s a DJ booth where tunes are spun – everything from Johnny Cash to Hall & Oates – and cool-clad bartenders and floor staff are very friendly and happy to pour you a cold beer, and get your snacks organised.
It’s the kind of place you could unintentionally lose an evening in. Especially if you settle into a cosy leather booth and let the sharp waiters take charge of the wines for the table, perhaps Jamsheed Roussane 2018 or a Cottanera Barbazzale Rosso 2016. At the back of the dining room, another arched opening frames Leonardo’s chefs plating standout pizzas that keep it traditional, say the classic pepperoni and then throw in a curveball like the Ramblr Chinese bolognese pizza with white sauce, fior di latte and spring onions (it’s delicious). The crostini are also worth a look with toppings such as fried sardine, whipped bottarga and burger pickles or tomato, goats curd and fermented pepper. 29 Grattan St, Carlton (no phone, no bookings).