The latest eatery to open up in the Braddon precinct is Marble & Grain at the newly opened Avenue Hotel. From its name, and emblem of a cow in a suit pouring a glass of wine, it’s safe to suspect there to be a menu filled with meat and wine.
My partner and I are greeted at the door by our waiter (he was the only floor staff that lunch period) and we had our pick of where to sit. There are two separate dining ‘rooms’. The right wing has the completely open kitchen and bistro area with plenty of tables and red leather banquette style seating along the walls. There are several bright pendant lights hanging down to light up the place.
You can see through to the other dining area with the clever use of glass partitioning.
The left wing has the bar, high tables, TV and lounge style seating. It has a club room feel with various textural elements from wooden slats above the bar, aluminum counter and marble-like top, stained concrete walls, glass partitioning, tiled floors and wooden boarding along the walls and ceiling.
The plastic vines hanging along the top provide the only greenery in the restaurant. The large windows facing Mort Street slide open to let a cool breeze in.
We received two different menus. One was the bar menu with bar snacks, sharing plates, a few mains and dessert. The larger regular menu consisted of entrees, salads, mains, sides and more desserts. And yes, there are a few pages of different wines. We weren’t that hungry that day so we decided to choose 4 small plates to share rather than a main. The first was the deli board ($16) with a mix of sliced Spanish and Italian cured meats and heirloom carrots. What came out (about half an hour after ordering) was smaller than expected and not served on a board as the menu suggests. Served on a small plate, there were slices of four types of cured meats. There was a lovely smokey prosciutto which I really enjoyed, and I liked the blackish sausage too. There were no carrots in sight except for the carrot top leaves. Not being a fan of olives, I’m surprised that I liked the crispy black olive toasted bread that was crushed in with the meats. Not too overpowering a taste of olive, but gave it a nice contrast to the salty meats.
Next was the salt and pepper cuttlefish ($18) with ‘green goddess dressing’. This was a small portion for the price but there were some nice large pieces of lightly fried and crispy cuttlefish. I liked the dressing which was a mixture of mustard, lemon, herbs and something else.
I love arancini balls and will usually always order it wherever I go. Marble & Grain’s arancini balls ($14) come in a serve of four, topped with salsa verde, truffle and pecorino. I noticed they were very oily sitting in the little bowl. Sadly, I was disappointed with these. The risotto was overcooked causing it to be very gluggy. There wasn’t any flavour inside, so you had to portion out the topping with every mouthful. I couldn’t taste any truffle either. But the salsa verde was nice and had a tiny bit of chilli in it.
The steak tartare ($18) with saltbush, tarragon and apple was from the list of entrees on the regular menu. The small chopped cubes of raw steak tasted great with the lovely aioli-like sauce. The thinly sliced apple provided some sweetness (I wish there was more of it). I thought the Spanish onion was brilliant in giving a bit of spice and lifted the dish. I used the crispy toasted bread as a spoon, piling on a portion of the steak tartare.
For dessert, I picked something different – the salt-baked pineapple ($15) with cinnamon, buttermilk and rum. I’d heard of Gordon Ramsey’s salt-baked pineapple where you pat a thin layer of salt around a whole pineapple (skin still on), bake it, and then crack off the salt crust, so I was interested to see what this would taste like. This looked very pretty on the plate. On my first bite, there was a lot of salty and sour going on. The warm sweet pineapple pieces I was expecting turned out to be extremely salty. Way over the top. The buttermilk pannacotta underneath wasn’t sweet either but sour and tasted a bit like yoghurt. This was quite an attack on my senses (especially as I’ve got such a sweet-tooth). The only sweet elements on the plate were the condensed milk on the side and the biscuit crumbs. Maybe if the pineapple wasn’t as salty and the pannacotta was sweeter, then this dish could be pulled off. It was just too sour and overly salty for my liking.
I believe in second chances and went back for another lunch with V to try out more dishes. This time I ordered the scallops with fois gras, celery and tea ($20) as an entree. It took a long time for this to come out. Considering we were the only two people dining in the entire restaurant area, I don’t know what the hold up was. I reminded myself that it is a hotel as well, and there were probably people ordering room service. About 35 minutes after ordering, my entree and both our mains arrived at the same time. I would’ve liked my scallops served before my main, as they were slightly cold when they arrived (maybe it had been sitting for a bit for both mains to be ready?). The scallops had been overcooked and were a little dry. However, I did enjoy them with the fois gras and caviar.
V had come to eat at Marble & Grain earlier in the week and warned me about the small portions of mains. I still wanted to try at least one main meal, and decided on the spring lamb shoulder with ratatouille, zucchini flower and lavender ($32). True to her warning, the portion was small with two pieces of lamb wrapped around some stuffing of lamb minced with herbs and olives. The lamb was wonderfully pink throughout, soft and easy to chew. The ratatouille was full of flavour with stewed zucchini, carrot and capsicum. I really enjoyed the lamb and the added flavour from the olives and ratatouille.
V ordered the burger with dry aged beef, smoked cheese, tomato, pickle, mustard and chips ($18). A small burger but V liked the beef pattie and crunchy chips.
I had to give dessert another chance and this time ordered something that HAD to be sweet – the apple tarte tatin ($15) with raisins and caramel. It didn’t take long for this to come out, only about 10 minutes. I couldn’t help notice the small portion on the plate. I was a little disappointed as it was literally one pastry biscuit bottom, with a few slices of apple on top, and a scoop of ice cream. The vanilla ice cream was divine with lots of vanilla bean through it. But the tarte tatin itself wasn’t great and I was expecting more for the price.
We received a complimentary plate of petit fours towards the end of lunch which we gladly accepted. Chocolate truffle, dark chocolate with chocolate filling, marshmallow, and a soft shortbread-like cake.
Service could be improved. They are just starting out and it was our waiter’s first day so he didn’t know much about the menu or dishes. However, he was very nice, smiley and did provide us with complimentary petit fours. The wait time for food also needs some improvement. There’s something not quite right with waiting over a half hour when we’re the only ones in the restaurant. I’m not sure what the wait times will be when the restaurant starts getting busier and more popular. Food-wise, presentation is lovely and I enjoyed the steak tartare and the lamb shoulder. The other dishes just didn’t manage to hit the spot for me and given the price for each dish, I expected better.
Marble & Grain is located on the ground floor of the newly opened Avenue Hotel on Mort Street (very close to the McDonald’s end). Open everyday from early am to midnight.
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