There’s an art to straddling the destination-worthy yet accessible divide,and it looks exactly like this. A dining room in a former workshop,made intimate by local artist portraits. A crackling fire and kid-friendly courtyard. And a Yarra Valley-rooted menu processed through the lens of owner-chef Mauro Callegari’s Argentine roots.

Lime-licked scallop crudo on bubbly cassava crisps shows confident restraint. Ditto the crystal-clear spices punching through lamb or cauliflower empanadas. Sticky beef cheeks are infused with subtle smoke,and fudgy maple-roasted carrots are crunched up with peanuts and coriander.

Callegari sets a high culinary bar with low barrier to entry. You can have excellent crumbed morcilla (blood sausage) and a glass of Argentinian torrontes,if you like. But the space is ultra-welcoming even if you’ve just rolled in off Puffing Billy in a puffer. Independent indeed.

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Melbourne’s Eastern Suburbs

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