HEADLINE ACT
This stellar hit continues to deliver seasonal dishes and quality service, writes MICHAEL HARDEN.
Cumulus Inc wasn’t the first restaurant to mark Flinders Lane as one of Melbourne’s premier food streets but it’s the most influential. From its design, which introduced local diners to the kitchen bar, to a menu that helped redefine the city’s version of all-day dining via meticulously sourced ingredients, precision cooking and excellent quality booze, Cumulus Inc immediately encapsulated a particular mode of Melbourne eating. That it shared a re-purposed rag trade building with both an art gallery (Arc One) and a cutting-edge theatre (fortyfivedownstairs) cranked its Melburnian credentials to 11.
The originality of Cumulus Inc is perhaps best underlined by the fact that, after nearly a decade-and-a-half, it still feels fresh. The open airy room, with its soaring Victorian dimensions, timber floors, splashes of colour, moments of whimsy (those timber shoe-stay coat hooks never get old) and floods of light from a wall of windows has the same appealing buzz it had when it was a fresh-faced debutante.
There hasn’t been any slacking off with the food either, even if the name-checking of ingredients – Blackmore wagyu bresaola, for example, or amazing Somerset Heritage tomatoes that join forces with apple cucumbers, black garlic and balsamic vinegar in an exceptional salad – is now commonplace not cutting edge.
There’s still attention paid to seasonality and a number of larger protein dishes – half a Milawa chicken (teamed vibrantly and successfully with lime, harissa and a superb, rich macadamia romesco) or one kilogram of sticky, collapsing, slow-cooked lamb shoulder – continue to make Cumulus an excellent place to gather with your posse.
But it’s ideal for the solo diner or post-show supper date too with plenty of smaller stuff on the menu, two bars and expert and properly-chilled martinis to tide you over until the oysters, teamed with an umamioceanic seaweed mignonette, arrive.
Raw fish has always been a sure thing here and might be snapper teamed with salmon roe and dressed with brilliant Mount Zero olive oil flavoured with locally grown yuzu.
The steak’s good too, perhaps a full-flavoured grass-fed onglet that’s both charry and vibrant pink while desserts might include a fig tart with lemon curd and ricotta that’s as beautiful to look at as to devour.
The wine list is generous by the glass and spends most of its time with small producers from Victoria and Europe. It reflects the balance that Cumulus Inc gets right across the board from service through to aesthetic: no compromising on quality while making the experience as comfortable and user-friendly as possible. No wonder it’s had such a long run.