THE FAWKNER
52 Toorak Rd
South Yarra, Vic
03 9867 5853

When it comes to dining out The Fawkner is an open and shut case. Well, actually it’s more of a shut and open case because it has closed it doors and re-opened, and changed menus and management, so many times in recent years you tend to wipe it from your speed dial.

It opened a few years ago with much fanfare and a cocktail party studded with celebrities including Melbourne’s newest Hollywood star Eric Bana.
Didn’t save it.

I reviewed it in 2004 and said:
‘The Fawkner is a gem. A great bar. A great restaurant. The man behind it is the man they just call Fonda. He used to run Cavalli in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda.
His new place really works. They have done it well. They have honoured the heritage of the old place. There are leather benches and a marble-topped bar and an open fire. A cosy place to read the Sunday papers. They have even brought back an old idea: The Sunday Roast. For $35 a head you can have a traditional roast pork with crackling and trimmings. Plus some apple and cherry crumble. Or roast beef or roast leg of lamb.’
On one of my first visits there was an off-putting smell downstairs . A dank and unpleasant rising damp sort of smell which was surprising because the restaurant was in a brand new apartment complex on the site where the old  Tiffany’s on the Park had been opposite Fawkner Park. I had watched it, in culinary anticipation, being built from scratch. Even flirted with a business partner about buying it once.  And soon the doors closed.

That smell became an off-putting symbol in several revivals at The Fawkner. They changed the menu, rearranged the same chairs and tables, re-painted downstairs – but the smell remained. And the place closed again.

Didn’t surprise me.  Before we stopped going there Mrs. Nosebag and I gave it three chances. On one occasion our guest was served an interesting chicken dish with appetising garnishes and strips of crispy prosciutto. One snag: the chicken was raw.

On another occasion the service was so bad we took nearly thirty minutes to get our bill even though we were the only guests in the place. The lone waitress was busy at the bar trying to book a wedding party for some months down the track.

I finally got the chef to acknowledge my exasperated semaphore but she even shrugged him off. When she finally appeared with the check she did apologise and explained she was briefing a couple on their planned wedding party.

I presciently pointed out that maybe a little attention should be paid to a current customer rather than a prospective one down the track. The place had closed again before those nuptials.

When The Fawkner re-opened recently we decided to give it yet another shot. The first sign was positive: the downstairs smell had gone. And they’d opened the doors and windows upstairs to the street.

It got better. The service was terrific and the menu eclectic and  promising.

We started with a Saganaki to share and it was made with good Greek Kefalograviera cheese. Not greasy and not too briny as is often the case.

Still on my ‘entrees only’ kick I had a tasting plate as my main course.  It contained a tasty variety of smoked, cured and pickled meats with some seafood and vegetables. A good choice at $18.

Mrs. Nosebag, a vegequarian, had the fricassee of Moreton Bay bugs with beans and broccolini but minus the ‘verjuice’.  Guests went for the beer battered fish and chips and a char-grilled rib eye steak with roasted field mushrooms. The batter on the fish was almost Tempura-light and not claggy at all. These days the $28 tab for a steak is considered cheap. Even other bistros are serving steaks at $35 and at The Botanical ‘the best steaks in Melbourne’, according to The Age, are $50.

The prices are good at the new-look Fawkner. Mains are all under $30 and sides are $7. Actually it is the first time in years I have seen side orders offered in two sizes ($4 and $7) which is great when a full serve is often too much for one person.  This way you can have two halves of  sautéed spinach with  almonds, garlic and currants (which is fantastic), steamed broccolini, soft polenta with thyme or green beans with butter and garlic. Hope that catches on elsewhere. I still smart over the fifteen bucks for mashed potato at Aria in Sydney.

The place is slowly building a Sunday lunch trade. Mrs Nosebag and her parents lunched there recently without me but I got an urgent call to head down for desserts when they discovered one of my favourites on the menu –hokey pokey ice cream! Shades of New Zealand.

My gut feeling (scuse the pun) is that this time The Fawkner will work. I understand the management and the chef have an interest in the freehold which makes a helluva difference. And I like the name of the company that runs it. They call themselves Knife and Fawk Pty Ltd.  That sort of sense of humour can’t go astray in the restaurant business.

And this one no longer stinks.