BOTANICAL (2)
169 Domain Road
South Yarra Vic
Ph: 03 9820 7888

This is the Bot revisited. I reviewed the new Botanical for brunch in 2003 – which was great -- but this is, literally, a crackling good story.

When I was a kid, the Sunday roast was always a leg of lamb. Occasionally the lamb, with roast pumpkin and roast potatoes and roast parsnips, was replaced by a side of roast beef. We didn’t have roast chicken. That was a treat for Christmas only. And, VERY occasionally, the Sunday roast would feature a slab of pork. With CRACKLING !!!

Mum would have scored it like a patchwork quilt and salted it heavily and we would fight for the golden, fatty, crispy bits when she served it along with the apple sauce.

Years later, more diet savvy, we would scrape the gooey white fat off the back of the crackling, if we even ate it at all.

That did not stop me recently from eating a pork and crackling dish that was, as they say, “to die for”.

It was so good that, for the first time in years of the Hungry Hinch column, I intend to review a dish rather than a restaurant.

My fellow diners at the Botanical in Melbourne had the fangs out while I was lightly playing with a bowl of rich French Onion soup. But the menu had a siren song called “ Spit-roasted Suckling Pig”.

Just the name demands you order it. And I did. And we all tried it. If you like pork or crackling this will seduce you.

This huge dish (for 36 dollars) will win your heart and soul. There are perfect pieces of meat with perfect crackling. There is slow-cooked pork belly with crackling.

There is a thick ham-like exquisite fillet that has bubbled along in a jus of pork and sauternes. There is a slice of marinated or pickled pineapple and a rich, genuine, slab of black pudding. The pudding is rich and real. Possibly too rich and too authentic for some people.

But, in general, the spit roasted suckling pig fandango that I tried at the Botanical in Melbourne is one of the best dishes I have seen in any restaurant in Australia in the past five years.

Two could share it – if you don’t fight over who gets the crackling.

And it says something about this trendy place that is packed every Friday and Saturday night. They do serve quality stuff. Starting with the Coffin bay oysters from South Australia. And a wine list to match.

July 24, 2004