Papa Goose

24th April 2012

Having been passed this restaurant several times on the way to the multitude of restaurants in the Good Food Guide on Flinders Lane i had always intended to try this restaurant. However it wasn't until the suggestion of a friend that we decided to try the modern British cuisine offered at Papa Goose. With Em booking for four people, we were joined by Anja and Lyd on a blustery, rainy and cold Melbourne night.

The restaurant was split into 2 levels with a private dining room, toilet and a bar called loose goose upstairs and the main dining room downstairs. Very modern chic with a dark feel and mood lighting upstairs, Lyd and I, who arrived early headed up to the bar for a drink before the others arrived.

After our drink we headed back down to the slightly brighter dining room. We were seated at a simple wooden table and chairs that were comfortable and cosy. With everyone arrived we were offered the usual option of tap or sparkling water, which i decided tap but the girls choose sparkling ($24 for 2 reasonably big bottles).

After the opening and selection of wine from a reasonably list, both in terms of selection and price, we moved on to food. The menu was a single large page with 5-6 options under several different headings - larder, starters, mains, beef from the grill, sides and deserts. They also offered a 5 and 8 course degustation. The food itself was listed as modern British with a focus on some British game and a heavy British theme on deserts but everything else was just essentially modern food.

I decided to share an item from the larder section and a starter with em, before choosing my own main course and desert.  With the larder item we choose the rabbit croquette. Rich flavouful meat with a crisp outer shell. Very nice but not amazing.

This was followed by a starter of twice cooked quail, game terrine, pistachio, watercress and baby gherkins. Nicely cooked small pieces of quail but the bones were still attached which made it fiddly to eat. The game terrine look like a cross between a sausage and black pudding and had a rich meaty flavour. The combination of the rich meat combined well with the pistachio and fresh salad but something special was missing from the dish and it barely registered as above average.

The main course i choose was a slight variation of the one on the menu as they had no pork loin but amended the dish for pork cheek. The dish featured the pork cheek, scallop, compressed apple and purees. Pork cheek was well cooked and substantial and the combination between the fatty delicious pork, caramelised scallop and fresh compressed squares of apple was good. Good quality ingredients matched with some flair and well matched together provided a good dish.

We then moved on to the deserts which were a great change and offered real quality with old fashioned British flavours done in modern ways. I choose the double decker, a playful take on the english chocolate bar. A square block with 2 different portion, one smooth and one crunchy, accompanied by a chocolate stout ice cream and sour plum. Great contrasts of flavour and the double decker was very good quality.

A decent meal out with a good premise, very decent produce and some flashes of quality cooking. However i will not be rushing back to this restaurant in the near future for an encore. Decent prices with most starters under $20, mains about $30-40 and desert about $15.