Lord Cardigan
59 Cardigan Place
Albert Park, Melbourne
9645 5305
www.lordcardigan.com.au

 

About 25 years ago, being such an expert at trendspotting and social mores, I decided that Albert Park was going to be the next South Yarra. I bought an Architectural award-winning modern palace in Merton Street – the only three-storeyed building in the area -- and awaited the gentrification.

I even seriously considered forming a group to buy the rundown but beautiful Biltmore Hotel building on Bridport Street and turning it into an upmarket bar/restaurant with luxury apartments (including mine) on the upper floors.

The transformation into a stylish suburb full of trendy restaurants and cafes and designer clothes shops took a lot longer than I expected. I sold the dream house for $60,000 less than I paid for it and fled to Toorak. I should have been more patient and held on.

(Even though a chronic lack of garages meant I had to park not one, but two, Rolls Royces, in the street. And, yep, they got vandalized bigtime.)

Now Bridport Street and VicAv are teeming with great eating spots. Ricardo’s, Naked Japan, the revamped Albert Park Hotel. And now  the Lord Cardigan.

The Lord Cardigan is a great find. It was a happy choice in our Friday Fang Club.

On a winter’s night a seafood chowder as a special attracted three starters. The unusual addition of smoked eel gave it a lift but the smokiness was so authentic that it reminded Mrs. Nosebag of the childhood ham soup days before she went strictl;y vegequarian. Needed reassurances from the chef that there was nary a hint of pork anywhere near it.

I thought it was fantastic. There was an entrée that sounded great on paper:  Grilled Crystal Bay prawn and calamari, lime and palm sugar dressing, avocado and Asian herb salad, peanut and sesame seed. It sounded top of the range Thai and it turned out deliciously so.

Looked so good across  the table that I chose it for a main…  following my usual habit these days of only eating entrées.

I figured next visit I’d have the beetroot and caramelized onion tart with  Woodside goat’s curd and Balsamic. A similar dish has become a Sunday favourite from the new menu at Riva in St. Kilda.

And true to my edict that you can always judge a restaurant by its bread the Lord Cardigan has terrific bread.  The night we were there it was a blend of buckwheat, rye and wholemeal flour with some added sourdough. Crusty and terrific. Almost in Bistro Guillaume’s league. And it was served with quality frantoio olive oil from the quaintly named Burrumbuttock.

The mains were generous enough to feed some of Lord Cardigan’s ill-fated troops before the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava. An aged Angus eye fillet, duck (roasted with fennel and coriander seed) free range pork (roasted with juniper berries and orange)  and a whole King George whiting with sandcrab and ginger. And all the mains were around $35.

Some good side dishes too which, increasingly, we order for the table. Roasted beetroot, baby spinach, goat’s cheese and walnuts and potatoes fried in rosemary salt.

The Cardigan is aptly named.  Like the woollen jacket it’s namesake inspired this restaurant is a comfy fit. You can tell when people in the kitchen and out front really want you to feel comfortable and enjoy what they proffer.

I wish them well in these tough economic times. I’d hate to one day have to rewrite Tennyson’s storey about Lord Cardigan and say ‘ into the valley of debt rode…..’

June 9, 2009