RADII
Park Hyatt Hotel
1 Parliament Square, Melbourne
www.radiirestaurant.com.au

I am not always impressed (some would say conned) by opulent restaurants, promising everything, in classy five-star hotels.

 

There are exceptions. The San Francisco Grill at The Hilton in Sydney was a great restaurant in the 1970s and 1980s. And there have been others.

 

I had heard of the Radii reputation. And was sceptical. And I was wrong. It is a great restaurant wrapped in the class and style of the Park Hyatt Hotel.

 

It starts with a downstairs cushy bar with lounges and pillows  and a great ambience. Then to your table. Radii is on several levels. We had an isolated table on a personal “island”. Nobody could overhear a private conversation. It was intimate and the right place and style for a long dinner.

 

We actually stayed for six hours and drank only one bottle of decanted wine. Admittedly it was a 1997 Grange Hermitage that I had brought from home for a special occasion.

 

Radii’s atmosphere tempts you to try different things. I started with butterflied garfish, buckwheat polenta, garlic prawns and salsa verde. Loved it.

 

Ms. Nosebag (a vegetarian who eats fish and does that make her a fishaquarian?) had a dish of vine-ripened tomato, buffalo mozzarella – which is everywhere these days – crushed green olives, pine nuts and grissini. It was exactly what she wanted.

 

For a main course I went for the pork scotch fillet. Mainly I guess, because I love crackling. I know it is just crackled fat but it brings back childhood memories of when a leg, or side, of pork was served by my Mum for our Sunday lunchtime roast.

 

In those days the crackling came in slabs. And the kids would fight over it.

 

This pork dish at Radii had crackling and was served with wok fried vegetables and a pungent quince puree. Could not fault it.

 

Ms. Nosebag had the John Dory and grilled bug with snow peas, tomato and chive butter. Also served with kipfler potatoes which have become  de rigueur in so many restaurants these days. They’ve replaced sun-dried tomatoes.

 

She said the fish and the grilled bug remained moist and tasty.

 

By then we should have been replete (a dainty word for “ full as a goog”). Ms. Nosebag waved away the dessert menu. I always like to read them, even if I don’t want dessert. And usually don’t.

 

They got me. I fell for the “frozen cherry and almond nougat cassata”. I inhaled it. It was that good.

 

We were content after a great dinner in surprisingly intimate surroundings for such a big multi-tiered place.

 

We had had some great dishes and sipped a beautiful Grange.

 

The only sour taste was when the bill came. They charged me $25 corkage for one bottle of wine. Even the food bandits in Sydney wouldn’t do that.

 

Anyway, the place is called Radii. It is one of the best restaurants in Melbourne. And the service was impeccable. Professional but not intrusive.

 

Footnote:  It really was a great meal and a great bottle of wine. I may have done this through rose-coloured glasses. The woman I dined with had, only a few hours earlier, married me. Now I’ll call her Mrs Nosebag.

 

March 1, 2006