Middle Park finally gets its moment as a new bar and bistro opens in the suburb
From the owner of Tartine and Ned's Bake, Middle Park European is a long-awaited diner for pasta and steak frites.
For months, Middle Park residents have been peering through the venetian blinds of the building on the corner of Armstrong and Erskine streets, eagerly awaiting its transition into a wine bar and bistro they can call their own.
After much anticipation, 110-seat Middle Park European will officially open on June 3.
The latest venture by restaurateur Matteo Bruno's Valarc Group (Richmond's Tartine, Windsor's Ines Wine Bar and Sistine, and more) will feed the local hunger for an elevated dining option in the suburb, says Bruno, who lives nearby in Albert Park.
'I was really familiar with this strip and I knew that there was really nothing of this nature.'
He tested the concept when he acquired Ned's Bake after it went into administration, adding nights at the Middle Park location, which he says 'locals couldn't get enough of'.
Bruno hopes the same will be true for Middle Park European, open for lunch through dinner six days a week for residents to use as casually or ceremoniously as they like.
There's an immediate warmth to the front bar – all salmon-coloured tiles, lime-washed walls and original stained-glass windows – where you can perch at a standing table with a beer, or champagne and a half-dozen oysters, while you wait for a seat.
The 'spine of the venue', Bruno says, is a curvy walnut-timber bar, inset with stone, that the team needed a local boat builder to make. It stretches up the building's right-hand side into a cork-lined dining area with booth and banquette seating. Vintage cabinetry sourced from Kyneton homewares store Kabinett adds to the lived-in feel.
Leading the (open) kitchen is British-born head chef Aaron Wrafter, who cut his teeth at the Michelin-starred, now-closed Turners, and Harborne Kitchen in Birmingham. His menu is Italian-leaning, with French flourishes and a substantial selection of seafood.
To start, caviar 'dip' saves you having to splash out on a tin. A bed of creme fraiche is topped with Black River caviar, chives (and chive oil), and pickled shallot.
There will always be two kinds of house-made pasta – so generously 'sharing-sized' that Bruno had to order bigger tables. For the opening menu expect fresh tagliatelle with Shark Bay crab and bisque, and ridged shell-like cavatelli with pork-and-fennel sausage.
Mainstays include fish'n'chips and steak frites (porterhouse, say, with tarragon butter), while a specials board will introduce new dishes every couple of weeks.
As with the food, the wine list favours Italy and France, with a few big-ticket bottles from Barolo and Burgundy. More affordable local alternatives also punch above their weight: Heathcote winery Vinea Marson's barbera is 'just as bold as ones from Piedmont that are 20 times the price', says Bruno.
Cocktails are largely driven by citrus and amari, including an Aperol-tinged spicy marg and salted-caramel espresso martini with Averna.
Open lunch and dinner Tue-Sat.
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