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During the week I read about the opening of Woody.P on Flinders Lan. Since the restaurants at the top end of the street are usually pretty damn good I booked in for a Sunday lunch with some friends. Yes, you can actually book! No trying to line up after work to put your name down and maybe get a table 3 hours later. You can actually book!
The space is big and bright, with wooden floorboards, exposed brick walls and a big neon sign on one wall with 'When In Rome'. We took that advice and lunched like the Romans would, no haste and enjoying every bit.
The menu offers classic Italian fare like pizza and pasta but also modern things like rabbit sausage, pan seared scallops and 48-hour slow cooked beef rib.
Lucky for someone like me who isn't very good at making decisions when it comes to food, they also offer a 'Time to Feast' at $55 a head. We chose the feast and a nice bottle of pinot and we were set for an ideal lazy Sunday lunch.
First up were the white anchovy and caramelised onion on puff
pastry. They came out very pretty looking and even for those of us who weren't so keen on anchovy they weren't too fishy.
Next up an entree I had spotted on the menu and was super excited to try: pork cheek croquettes with chorizo crumb and apple
aioli. I'm a sucker for croquettes and these ones were right up my alley.
The cured kingfish with beetroot, mandarin,
horseradish was very tasty, I especially liked the addition of mandarins to the dish.
As a addition to the feasting menu we had also ordered the rabbit sausage with heirloom carrot, mustard and pistachio. Rabbit is one of those things you don't find on many menus so we took the opportunity.
The sausage was seasoned with fennel seeds, which added great flavour, I can definitely recommend it! Next in the line of entrees came the pan seared scallops with nduja, pumpkin and pomegranate. The dish was super pretty and I loved the combination of scallops and pomegranate, that little burst of freshness went really well with it.
One of the Italian staples on the menu is fore di burrata with pear, witlof and olive jam. I really love burrata, the soft and rich mozarella is super delicious!
As part of the Feast you get to choose a pizza and have the option to get either fish or meat as the main and also the choice between two pasta dishes.
Our pizza of choice was the funghi with wild mushroom, gorgonzola, thyme, scamorza and parsley. It was a good, honest, funghi pizza! The pasta dish was the boys favourite of the whole menu: veal cheek, casarecce, mushroom, chestnut, and pumpkin. A perfect, hearty and warming winter dish. The veal cheek was so tender it just fell apart.
As the main course we had opted for the meat option, the chargrilled grass-fed T-bone with salsa verde which came with sides of roast potato, broccolini with grilled onion and honey mustard, as well as the radicchio, rocket, witlof & radish salad with vincotto dressing. Wow! I especially loved the roast potatoes and the broccolini.
The honey mustard dressing was absolutely delicious. This was the end of the Feast, a lot of food but not too much that you felt uncomfortably full.
And of course there is always room for dessert. Dessert doesn't come as part of the Feast but we decided to share the chocolate & gianduja budino with creme fraiche & sour cherry ice cream as well as the alba whisky fried custard with apple terrine and caramel ice cream. Why have I never tried fried custard before?! This was one of the best desserts I have had in a while. It was crunchy with a soft, silky centre, accompanied with a cinnamony apple terrine and the sweet caramel ice cream. I'll order that one again for sure, but not to share, just for myself!
The Chocolate and gianduja budino were little brownie like cakes. They were good, especially the creme fraiche and sour cherry ice cream was delicious.
I'm glad Flinders Lane has yet another great eatery and being located right next to ChinChin I can imagine this place won't go unnoticed for long. Great food and service (and great music when we were there too!). It was a perfect lazy Sunday lunch.
