The European

Ok, I have not been back in Melbourne all that long, about 16 months, and already i see a disturbing trend throughout the city, all the restaurants have pretty much the same menu. I know that is not entirely true, but the amount of dishes that appear keep appearing on different menu is starting to upset me.

This night, the wife and i share an entree, The octopus special for $25. The octopus was cooked sous vide for 6 hours (i think) before being grilled to order, served with cotechino, kipfler potato, and salsa verde. It could have been a nice dish, but 2 problems here, 1) the octopus, which we were told would be tender, was instead quite chewy. this is because it was served in lenghths, if cut shorter the fibres would be shorter, and voila, it would be more tender. Problem 2) the dish straight out of Thomas Keller's book, Under Pressure, with cotechino substituted for chorizo. Books are great, i own hundreds of cook books, but i do not copy a dish out of the book, use them for inspiration.  5/10

Course 2 for me was a veal holstein snitzel, with celeriac remoulade, fried egg, and white anchovie.
Holstein seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment, but thats fine, and in honesty, I think the European has been doing it for some time now. It should be a great dish, but the veal is overcooked, and for $42, i think a little more care should have been taken, that said, the flavours and textures were very good, and a very reasonable portion, the white anchovie not too overpowering, and a subtle celeriac remoulade to tie it together. For me, a little more mustard would have been great.    6/10

We opted to not have dessert, but insstead enjoy our wine, a great suggenstion from the sommelier, an Italian Nebbiolo (will come back with producer and vintage). it was surprisingly good value at $90. would recommend it. Suggestion and value for money 7/10

The place still has the European charm, but i would like to see it become a little better value for money. You still leave feeling like you have been robbed a bit, just like in Europe