Do 100-year-old restaurants receive letters from the King? We’ll know in less than two years, when this Bourke Street icon, previously helmed by Guy Grossi and now under the direction of Rebecca Yazbek’s Edition Group, cracks a century at the centre of Victorian fine dining. “People come here because they can rely on the same dishes tasting the same year after year,” wrote Rita Erlich in a 1985 review.
That’s not entirely true four decades hence, but executive chef Brendan Katich and culinary director Michael Greenlaw are paying homage to eras past over two ($95), three ($120) or seven ($260) courses. Antipasti are delightfully fussy: tiny cannoli filled with duck liver parfait and porcini mushroom; tartlets of silken parmesan custard. Pasta remains a strong suit; sun-shaped duck ravioli topped with pickled cherry sit in an elegant broth.
Chocolate souffle, a Florentino classic and king of the dessert menu, is now made with local chocolate and Fernet Branca. The Italianate murals and grapevine wrought-iron light fixtures harken to clubbier, grander times, a reminder that meals of this grade are events, not just casual pastimes.
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