6 Cutler & Co

AUSTRALIAN

55-57 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, Vic

(03) 9419 4888 cutlerandco.com.au + Dinner Tue-Sat 6pm-10.30pm;

Sun noon-10.30pm + Bookings essential + Licensed, bar

+ E $28-$36 M $46-$55 D $18-$19; dégustation $170

+ Cards AE MC V EFT + Private room

+ Wheelchair friendly

+ Chefs Andrew McConnell & Colin Mainds Cutler & Co is wearing its ten years well. The renovation two years ago didn’t hurt. Romantic booths for two, windows punched into the back wall and sleek metal and glass partitions breathed new life into the moodily lit dining room and transformed the bar into a sleek and sophisticated destination in itself. But the real reason Andrew McConnell’s fine-diner still feels fresh is that the menu brings a rare flexibility to this end of the dining spectrum. The choose-your-own adventure approach offers everything from a finely crafted five-course dégustation to excellent comfort food in the form of dry-aged steak built for two (from McConnell’s own butcher Meatsmith) with house mustard and a shaved cabbage and fennel salad and paired with a glass from an exemplary wine list that favours small producers focused on varietal expression. The food is clever and pretty but never forgets flavour, as with albacore crudo sharply matched with wasabi and finger lime, aged Muscovy duck – served as two dishes: expertly roasted in one instance; baked in a pie in another – or exquisite persimmon vacherin with a bay leaf ice-cream. Service, from a team of well-drilled professionals, is among the city’s best, something that’s also been said about the whole Cutler experience for the last decade.