Review: Nature-inspired cafe Forest Green in Armadale serves fine food for day and night dining

You may remember them from Maris, the creative neighbourhood restaurant they were at the helm of a few years back at the top end of Glenferrie Rd.

That little charmer punched well above its weight and Forest Green - Craig’s low-key return to the hospitality fold - looks set to impress as well.

Expect contemporary cafe fare, deftly cooked and artfully arranged; eager service; and a clean “nature inspired’’ space that’s more Norwegian Wood than Sherbrooke Forest.

FOOD

In they come every Saturday and Sunday ... mums and dads trailing sneaker-clad kids, gym junkies fresh off the treadmill, retirees armed with the morning paper.

“They don’t often ask for a menu,’’ Craig says. That’s because these Forest Green regulars are hungry for the cafe’s “big breakfast” ($22). On one big dish they get two poached eggs, house-made pork and fennel sausage, double-smoked bacon, roasted mushrooms and smoked tomato relish.

It’s all good — short order cooking at its best — but the “all-day breakfast” here holds some other treats as well. Order up honey-roasted granola heaped with poached strawberries and rhubarb ($13.50), ricotta hot cakes dripping with chestnut flower honey ($17.50) and fried duck eggs on toast with Parma prosciutto, green olives and parmesan ($17.50).

Barista Peter Vee gets things going with expertly pulled Naked espresso coffee, but he can just as easily rustle up 9 Spice fresh chai, Tea Drop tea or a hot chocolate.

Stay on for lunch (from 11.30am) and it’s got to be a Turkish sandwich ($15.50) bulging with Berkshire ham, veal schnitzel or NZ king salmon. Then again, Craig’s crack kitchen team — powered by Ben Gisonda — can do you a burger with pulled lamb and Persian fetta ($20), hand-rolled gnocchi with sage and parmesan ($22) or a smoked beetroot salad ($18).

The dinner menu has a lovely variation on this piquant salad with little beets glowing purple amid mint leaves, walnuts puffballs of goats cheese ($8).

This is one of half a dozen “share plate” starters that source fine Australian produce and veer towards Europe. Plump Crystal Bay prawns come wrapped in brik pastry ($4 each), grilled WA sardines are anointed with a saffron dressing ($12) and dense chicken liver parfait under a helmet of clarified butter is ready for spooning over snappy crostini ($14). Irresistible.

The evening we call in there’s pasta as well ($28), spaghettini flipped with goats curd and Red Hill pine mushrooms. A perfect example of the comforting, flavour-filled food Craig perfected at Maris.

A Thursday night steak “special” stacks charry, blood-red Ranges Valley beef alongside house vegetables ($22). It’s skilfully cooked and even better when bolstered with herb-salted fries ($8) and a generous mixed leaf salad ($8).

Best of all is milk-fed veal rib eye ($28), lightly crumbed with warm potato dice and a bountiful green bean salad that hints at spring days to come.

Forest Green looks after sweet tooths. The cabinet upfront is always heaped with crème brulee doughnuts sporting brittle toffee tops, but don’t overlook a feather-light chocolate ganache and coffee meringue tart ($5.50) with quince ice cream.

DRINKS

Forest Green boasts a tight but thoughtful wine selection — nine whites and red apiece — which blends familiar names (Port Phillip Estate, Fox Creek) with the lesser known.

SERVICE

Anything but green. Forest Green employs staffers who work the floor with a single minded focus to serve and they do it with smiles as wide as they come.

X-FACTOR

Forest Green lives up to its name. All grass colours and earth tones, it's a pleasing space where you can see the chefs toiling in their open kitchen. In winter, the room can feel a tad cool but it’ll improve with the weather.

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

Terrific. Forest Green sends out generously sized large plates that are all under $30. Dinner specials are especially good value. Duck Night, every Saturday, puts a free range quacker on your plate with a glass of Victorian pinot for just $35 while Tuesday is your invitation to a “winter roast’’: warming soup followed by roast lamb and vegetables for $25.

VERDICT

Steady as an oak and budding with promise, Forest Green is not only a boon to Malvern and Armadale but a great go-to diner for all on Melbourne’s south side.

IN SHORT

FOREST GREEN

1264 High St, Armadale

Ph: 9509 2325

FOOD

Modern

HOURS

Daily, dinner Tues-Sat

CHEF

Patrick Craig

BOOKINGS

Yes

TABLE FOR TWO @7.30PM?

Likely

TIME BETWEEN ORDERING AND EATING

Five minutes

PERFECT FOR

Lazy weekend breakfasts, dinners on the way home from work

DESTINATION DISH

Crumbed milk-fed veal rib eye

NOISE FACTOR

Convivial

REVIEWS ARE UNANNOUNCED AND PAID FOR BY WEEKEND. RESTAURANTS ARE NOT REVIEWED IN THE FIRST MONTH OF OPENING.

Source: The Sun Herald, July 24^th 2015
Originally published as: Review: Nature-inspired cafe Forest Green in Armadale serves fine food for day and night dining