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*Note: Host Dining has closed down. The space is now home to Theodore’s.*
MELBOURNE | Host Dining Brunswick is the new venture by Majda and Nedim Rahmanovic (former owners of North Melbourne’s Twenty & Six Espresso) and continues the dining renaissance that’s occurring in this part of town. Located down an unassuming side street, itself off a Sydney Road side street, Host Dining is a simply designed former warehouse, which makes use of exposed brick, high ceilings and lots of timber to create range of dining spaces. Booths are on the side while the rest of the narrow space consists of a communal table and an assortment of smaller tables.
Head Chef Florian Ribul (ex Enquire Within, Hammer & Tong, Clove Club (London)) was asked by the Rahmanovic’s to create a “contemporary Australian menu that reflected the eclectic nature of Brunswick” and the focused one page menu certainly fits the bill. It’s split into small plates, large plates and desserts, with all dishes are very much designed for sharing. All fruit, vegetables, meat and fish are sourced as locally as possible.
The menu changes daily, depending on what’s fresh and available that day. When we dined we tried a range of dishes from the day’s menu. The whipped blood butter with potato crisps is a must try highlight – despite the crisps being quite salty, the combination of crisps and blood butter is something quite special. Other highlights include the perfectly cooked pork shoulder with the most divine crackling along with a vegetarian dish, the Musquée de Provence Pumpkin with nettle puree, fresh goats’ curd and brown butter chestnuts. The desserts really impressed too. The Wagon Wheel is an adult take on a childhood favourite while the parsnip cake with with crystal malt ice-cream, parsnip skin chips, chocolate crumb and apple caramel is one of the best desserts we’ve eaten this year. One dish that didn’t hit the right notes was the ox tongue. We are usually big fans of ox tongue but unlike most places we’ve eaten at the version at Host on the night we dined wasn’t cured and was quite salty.
The drinks list is also focused, featuring quality spirits along with minimal intervention, boutique wines and beers. We were particularly impressed to see a wine from Pheasant’s Tears, a winery from Sighnaghi in Georgia. Two of our London contributors fell in love with Pheasant’s Tears wines when travelling through Georgia (you can read their piece soon on The City Lane) and have struggled to find it anywhere else in Europe, so to see it on a menu in Brunswick was a surprise indeed. If you’re in the mood for a cocktail we suggest choosing something Amaro based – if you’re lucky enough to spot Nedim walking about, he knows more about Amaro than anyone we’ve met.
Majda and Nedim called their venue Host as they are always the ones hosting dinners with friends, and at Host, they’ve managed to create a welcoming space with excellent service and quality food that eschew trends and fits in well with the community focused ethos of Brunswick.
Host Dining
4 Saxon Street
Brunswick
Victoria 3056
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9023 5317
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://hostdining.com.au/
Open
Wed – Thu: 6:00pm to 11:00pm
Fri – Sun: 12:00pm to 4:00pm; 6:00pm to 11:00pm