Cutler & Co

Some people might go to Cutler and Co to try their degustation menu, others might enjoy sitting at the bar in the industrial chic Fitzroy resaurant and nibbling on some tasty small bites whilst watching the beautiful people. For $70 you can apparently get a mean Sunday lunch there based around whatever looks good that day from local suppliers and farmers. For us however it was all about the suckling pig.

Some readers may have noticed that we have a slight obsession with all things pig. This has led to pilgrimages to local restaurants such as Porchetta in New York and many paragraphs have been dedicated to exquisite pork bellies we have tasted at various restaurants around the world. We even got out our spit and did our own porchetta a few weeks ago which was a great success.

But getting hold of a suckling pig is a trickier thing entirely and we were told (by one who knows!) that the best suckling pig in Australia is to be found at Cutler & Co in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Once told we of course had to go and booked for a rainy night in winter several weeks before heading to Melbourne for a brief visit. Be warned - having won the Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year in 2011 getting a table here is something of a challenge. We went on a Tuesday night and the place was absolutely packed.

The decor is typical Melbourne industrial chic with some pleasing touches along the lines of giant ferns, some funky light fittings and the odd drape. Personally I am a little tired of every Melbourne cafe and restaurant making themselves over into dusty and bare bricked, concrete shrines to minimalism and excessive noise. What is wrong with a bit of carpet - the odd soft seat or, heaven forbid, wallpaper? Call me provinical but industrial chic seems to me to be an excuse to spend as little as possible on a refurb. How the designers must laugh at the gullible public who lap it all up as style.

However I will venture far for good food and, decor aside, we were in for an interesting evening featuring some truly classy service and exceptional food.

We began with some anchovy pastries which brought to mind the stunning anchovy sage tempura bites we had enjoyed at Appellation. Unfortunately these weren't in the same league and were essentially a puff pastry breadstick with some anchovy in the middle. Depending on which bit of the breadstick you bit into the anchovy flavour went from scarcely noticeable to a tasty hit of salty flavour. Being fans of the furry fish we could have used something a little more robust but freely admit not everyone shares our taste in this repect.

We were offered some sourdough or rye bread, both baked on the premises. I love my bread warm so was disappointed that it arrived cold but the bread itself was reasonable.

Up until this point the meal had been alright but in no way exciting. Then my first course soup arrived and blew me away. I had ordered the Spanner crab, abalone and sweet corn soup. The soup was poured over the spanner crab and abalone at the table whilst the corn was added as a powder to the finished, beautifully presented dish. The soup itself was the most wonderfully intense onion flavoured broth. It had been thickened with rice so it had no creamy richness to fight against the pure, deep flavour of the stock. The spanner crab and perfectly cooked abalone were tasty highlights to a stunning dish. My only quibble was that the corn powder was overwhelmed by the stock - I would have preferred real pieces of corn in the soup.

My husband chose the Mandarin duck starter, a crisp leg served with smoked fillet, boudin noir and lentils. The Boudin noir was superb - a mousse like jelly consistency tasting powerfully of duck and melting in your mouth. The fillet was delicious but unfortunately the crisp confit duck leg batter tasted distinctly fishy. This let down an otherwise superb entrée and puzzled us somewhat. We mentioned it to the waiter who asked the chefs if any fish had been fried in the same oil as the duck leg. Apparently this hadn't occurred but whatever the reason the batter was spoilt by a definite touch of fishyness. To the restaurant's credit the staff apologised and we weren't charged for that portion of the meal.

The main course arrived and we both unashamedly ordered the suckling pig and entered a realm of pig heaven. We were presented with a wonderfully large chunk of tender, melt in the mouth braised pork with the crispiest, lightest crackling skin I had ever come across - without any of the deep fat layer of older pigs. It may be sad to kill younger animals because they taste better but in this case I can't bring myself to object. Anything that tastes this delectable is just asking to be eaten!

The suckling pig was served with a portion of pork confit that was crumbed and tasted a little dry in my opinion. We ate the pork with an accompaniment of salad leaves in a delicous buttermilk dressing and with some pearl barley cooked in stock which was interesting texturally if not particularly tasty. But nothing could detract from the joy of the suckling pig itself. I am a convert and became immediately an avid Cutler & Co fan.

Unfortunately our enjoyment of this sublime dish and our accompanying Tarrawarra Yarra Valley Reserve Pinot Noir was threatened by the arrival of a very loud group at the table next to us who reeked not just of cigarettes, but in the case of the man closest to us, of a particulalry virulent brand of aftershave. Our eyes started to water in reaction and any hope of enjoying the bouquet of the wine was lost under the brutal assault of cheap scent. We asked to move and were efficiently relocated in a matter of seconds by a team of discrete and apologetic waiters and the floor manager. It was done so swiftly that I don't think the new arrivals even noticed!

I was finished off by the suckling pig and couldn't face dessert but my husband managed a rhubarb crumble that was served cold and in a somewhat deconstructed form, with a rather dry crumble topping but a superb accompanying fromage frais icecream. With coffee and some delicious and beautifully presented peppermint tea we were given some intense chocolate fudge passionfruit petit fours. With the bill we were given yet another apology for the batter and moving table incident and told that the duck entrée wouldn't be charged for. A restaurant with service standards this high and with such a superb way with suckling pig certainly deserves to be a contender for the Gourmet Traveller's top restaurant award. We will go back one day but will have trouble ordering anything other than that tasty baby pig!