St Edmonds
DARRIAN TRAYNOR
Adam Wilkinson gets points for sticking to a theme. His new all-day restaurant, crafted in the shell of an old garage at the rear of Greville Street in Prahran, is determinedly based on a workshop – from its oil-stained polished concrete floor to the “work-card” menus inside manila envelopes.
The staff wear logo-emblazoned denim overalls; old wire-encased workshop lights hang from a few of the walls; the roller door has been retained and sugar glasses were chosen because they looked like crushed plastic cups.
Design and media company Projects of Imagination did the stylised fit-out at St?Edmonds.
DARRIAN TRAYNOR
Wilkinson, the original owner of Woodstock in Armadale and founder of city-based sustainable concept café Small World, named his latest venture after its side-street location. He gives much of the credit for the stylised fit-out to Projects of Imagination, a design and media company he has worked with for 10 years that has its office on the premises.
“I’m a local,” says Wilkinson. “I lived in Windsor for 15 years and only recently moved to Elwood, but I had started heading north a bit more. They are more progressive over there, their service is better; the staff are more informed and educated.”
He says the derelict space was perfect for the “recycled-looking venue” he had in mind, but he was conscious that “Melbourne has moved beyond old milk crates as stools; customers can see through that now”.
Similarly, he wanted the menu at St Edmonds to be an honest, working man’s offering. Dishes are well priced, with enough upmarket and interesting choices to appeal to the professionals living in the area.
Chef Kam McManamey (ex-Ice, Prahran, Canvas, Hawthorn and the former Goodine Bistro in Adelaide) has created a modern Australian offering with an emphasis on Asian flavours. We dined at the restaurant in its first week, just after Easter, which was probably a bit unfair. There had been no seafood deliveries, which meant no hiramasa kingfish ceviche or five-spiced calamari, but there were still some good options.
Tapioca pudding
DARRIAN TRAYNOR
A tomato-and-caper ravigote (traditionally a veloute, McManamey’s was an olive oil, tomato, vinegar and caper emulsion) served with pickled carrot and chevre was a delight and showed the chef’s skill and imagination. The texture and acidity of the sauce balanced perfectly with the sweet and sour tang of the carrot and the rich, salty creaminess of the cheese. It was served with a pretty garnish of sprouts and thinly sliced radishes and was well priced at $12.
A duo of perfectly cooked and deliciously marinated lamb cutlets were proffered with a chilli-coriander “zhoug”, a kind of underwhelming salsa.
From the six “big-plate” list, we opted for the butcher’s choice daily cut – a piece of eye fillet – served on a bed of potatoes and buttered beans, augmented with a rich veal jus. This is the simple, quality food Wilkinson was talking about, and again, at $34, was reasonably priced.
A Berkshire pork rib-eye dish was a heat feast and another graceful balance of salt, sweet and sour. The char-grilled pork, marinated in Shaoxing wine and a light soy sauce rested on a bed of sliced pickled Granny Smith apple flavoured with ginger and chilli. The dish was dressed with a bright and fiery fresh tomato-and-lime relish that McManamey finishes with fish sauce, chilli and parmesan.
Tomato and caper ravigote
DARRIAN TRAYNOR
The four “sweet plates” choices included a cheese platter and a nashi pear and cinnamon crumble. We chose the other two: a verdant pandan-flavoured tapioca pudding with pale mango sorbet; and a mandarin pannacotta with passionfruit syrup and a crumbled topping of coconut shortbread.
The not-sweet tapioca and its fruit-sweet accompaniments were in harmony, while the pannacotta’s delicacy worked nicely with its robust citrus and floral flavours. These more-than-agreeable dishes, although generous in size, daintily stepped away from the charming workshop theme.
The verdict
St Edmonds has already been checked out by some of Melbourne’s top chefs and café owners. Congenial, switched-on staff and an eagle-eyed owner will ensure the place is pleasantly and efficiently operated. It should attract a broad range of discerning and loyal patrons.
Eat this
St Edmonds
Rear 154 Greville Street, Prahran
Phone \ 9525 0473
Chef \ Kam McManamey
Prices \ Breakfast $6-$22; lunch $11-$17; starters $4-$15; mains $24-$35; desserts $6-$14
Open \ Sunday to Monday 7am–5pm; Tuesday to Saturday 7am–11.30pm
The dazzling yellow door and the sunny, timber-lined and pebble-paved courtyard are bound to draw passers-by into this new Prahran eatery. Reminders of the former workshop – denim cushions on the long blackwood banquette, a stunning seven-metre copper benchtop, oversized timber pegs holding pot plants in denim baskets, a blackboard menu and sets of antique scales – give the space character without being kitsch. Sturdy black metal windows wrap around two sides of the whitewashed walls; there’s a copper splashback on the workshop sink of the main room, and the taps have been oxidised to complement it. Blackwood tables, stools and benchtops around the bar, serviceable white-coated timber chairs and a magazine rack made of green workshop coat-hangers almost complete the interior – that is left to the white powder-coated coffee grinders and the La Marzocco espresso machine serving good Syndicate coffee.
