So much upper-end, set-menu dining is more high-wire performance than relaxed meal. Lunch at Tedesca is both, but the “relaxed” bit is always at the forefront, masking the forensic attention to detail that makes it that way. It starts with the single-seating pace; no need to rush through Brigitte Hafner’s meticulously seasonal five courses because no one’s waiting for your table. So, your overture of snacks – perhaps wood-grilled ox tongue with peppery mustard leaf chimichurri or lusciously textured galotyri cheese dusted with dukkha – and the following rightly revered pasta course (maybe with Flinders mussels, or filled with ricotta and squacquerone) can be punctuated by a stroll in the biodynamic gardens. Or down to front-of-house guy James Broadway’s brilliant cellar, a trove of small-maker virtuosity. Select something to drink next before returning to the insouciantly beautiful room with its open kitchen and centrepiece hearth from which your fish, meat and dessert courses may emerge. Languid. Dreamy.
