Gerald Diffey and Mario Di Ienno are “too old to be nervous” as Di Ienno puts it. “When it comes to Gerald and I, we just do what we want to do.” Which is why the duo has opened fine-dining restaurant The Parlour inside the new Geralds Bar.
The Parlour is a 38-seat cordoned off section of the dining room that opens on Wednesday through Saturday nights. Rather than a contemporary take on fine dining, the menu from chef Matt Podbury is a throwback to the nouvelle cuisine that was popular in France in the 1960s and 1970s and hit Australia in the 1980s. “This idea of having this luxurious evening where you indulge a little bit, that’s what fine dining was back in the old days. It was about the fact that you could sit for two or three hours and you actually relax,” Di Ienno says.
The $145 multi-course set menu changes frequently, but dishes lean into familiar crowd-pleasing flavours. There’s no foam, no liquid nitrogen, and no tweezers in the kitchen – just a focus on classic techniques. “[Fine dining] has become a bit self-indulgent,” adds Podbury, who worked at Lyle’s in London and was formerly chef-owner of Geelong French bistro La Cachette. “It should be about the guest.”
When Broadsheet visits, snacky starters include honey-brushed pretzel grissini (Italian bread sticks) and a play on fish’n’chips – a small piece of confit potato topped with smoked cod roe. A piece of wild-shot venison is served with a sauce that takes three days to prepare. The meal concludes with a selection from the cheese trolley, plus dessert and petit fours such as an apple and cinnamon pâté de fruit and fudge made from goose fat – the work of pastry chef Joanna Karlin, whose expertise lies in fruit-forward desserts.
The whole experience harkens back to the 1980s, when Diffey was waiting tables and Di Ienno was starting out in the industry as an apprentice. “[We’re] going back in time – it’s very old-fashioned hospitality.” But with changing tastes and increasing costs, the style of dining on show here has become increasingly less economical, as hospitality businesses have to focus more on efficiencies. “We’ve got the comfort of having a larger space and an events space that brings other avenues of revenue in here,” says Podbury.
“This could be the greatest indulgent experiment that Gerald and I have ever set on,” says Di Ienno. “It may work, it may not work. It might be great. It might be not so great. It doesn’t matter anymore. The point is that we’re going to step forward and do it and do our best to make it succeed.”
Geralds Bar
920 Lygon Street, Carlton North
(03) 9349 4748
Hours:
Mon to Wed 4pm–11pm
Thu 4pm–midnight
Fri & Sat midday–midnight
Sun midday–11pm
The Parlour at Geralds Bar hours:
Wed 6.30pm–11pm
Thu to Sat 6.30pm–midnight
www.geraldsbar.com/eat-and-drink#parlour
Dining and Cooking