The
Grand Hotel
By Franz Scheurer (February 2007)
The Grand Hotel in Richmond looks like an unlikely venue for some of the best modern Italian food in Melbourne. The typical ‘suburban watering hole’ atmosphere just inside the door is alarming, until you discover the small door to the right and step into a little “foodies’ oasis”. High ceilings, dark brown carpet, wispy curtains and really funky, bright red windowpanes, combine with good tableware, a sea of white cloths and a full house, to paint a picture of an eatery somewhere in the backstreets of Florence or Venice.
Service starts off a bit aloof, but is soon replaced by approving smiles upon our wine order. The wine list is fantastic, typically overstated Melbourne but the client no doubt wins. The menu is a great read and the only thing that concerns us is what not to order.
We started with a series of entrées: the ‘Fish broth with fennel, potatoes and handmade quadrucci pasta’ ($9.50), the ‘Caprese of buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil served warm on Calabrian pita bread’ ($14.00), the ‘Steamed mussels with white wine, tomato, garlic and chilli’ ($17.50), and the ‘Potato gnocchi with brown butter and sage’ ($17). The fish broth looked like a bowl of liquid lifted straight from the sea, slightly cloudy with lots of ‘little fish’ swimming in it in the form of pieces of fish and the four different pasta shapes; a clever dish and a wonderful starter. The ‘pizzetta’ of insalata Caprese was good, as were the mussels, but the gnocchi were superb: light, airy, fluffy, yet full of flavour with a delightful texture, and lots of leftover burnt butter to mop up with the bread.
For mains we tried the ‘Bread maltagliati pasta with prawns, fennel, saffron, tomato and white wine’ ($19.50), the ‘Pizzoccheri, traditional Valtellina style buckwheat pasta with savoy cabbage, potato and taleggio served with brown butter, garlic and sage’ ($17.50), the ‘Pot roasted veal with sage and white wine served with sautéed silverbeet and parmesan’ ($27), and the ‘Roast lamb rump filled with Aiago cheese and prosciutto served with a salad of fresella bread, tomato, egg and pecorino ($29.50).
Both the pasta dishes were exquisite. The ‘malformed’ bread pasta was superbly cooked and presented, and the texture of the buckwheat pasta was perfect. The veal was full of flavour with that almost gelatinous feel of a very young beast, while the lamb was a solid, filling dish without being heavy. A side of ‘white zucchini’ turned out to be what I’d call marrow and was probably the only dish that was a bit bland.
The meal finished with another surprise, the signature dish ‘Italian doughnuts filled with pistachio ice cream served with baked oranges’ ($12). We ordered two portions to share between the four of us and it was plenty but boy was it good! Texturally sensational with chewy, springy bits surrounded by gooey, meltingly soft ice cream and crunchy nuts… a dream! If I have to order a last dessert on this Earth, this will be it.
Strong coffee, clean grappa and bittersweet amaro were a fitting way to finish a superb evening and all I can say is: Bravo!
Score: 7.5/10
For more information or bookings:
The Grand Hotel Dining Room
333 Burnley Street
Richmond VIC 3121
Tel.: 03 9429 2530