Identifying a through line on Such and Such’s menu isn’t easy. A meal might begin with stellar sourdough flatbread that’s more like a crumpet, given glossy sheen from a smear of extra-sharp toum. From there it could zig to a bowl of crunchy fried school prawns and cashews, coated in a tingly “666 spice” mix that’s not quite as demonic as it sounds. Or zag to hibachi-grilled beef intercostals and enoki mushrooms designed to be wrapped in a sesame leaf kissed with perky miso sambal.
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The more sizeable plates are just as inspired, but offer no more in the way of cohesion. Chunks of salmon and markedly fresh mussels find favour alongside semi-dried tomatoes and al dente Great Northern beans in a delicately briny broth that recalls Neapolitan acqua pazza. Blood plums and a rousing fish-sauce caramel, meanwhile, turbocharge a gushingly juicy roasted duck crown, lathered in a sticky crimson sauce thrumming with Chinese five-spice.
Tongue skewers, bread and toum, prawns with 666 spice.
(Credit: Cassie Abraham)
These are all delicious things, but if they’re bound by a more specific and remarkable quality, it’s an irrepressible sense of whimsy shared by the restaurant’s co-owners – chef Malcolm Hanslow, and partners Dash Rumble and Ross McQuinn. This particular brand of polished playfulness is exactly what made Pilot, their début smart-casual dégustation diner in suburban Ainslie, such a runaway success. Here, at the trio’s eagerly awaited sophomore venture, they’ve let that same free-wheeling frame of mind run even freer.
Push through the door, and the first thing you see is a technicolour tank of bottles by Southern Highlands glass artist Scott Chaseling. It’s a vivid welcome to the 40-seat dining room just beyond it, which embraces the resurgence of retro-kitsch with olive bouclé banquettes, corduroy cushions, tricolore terrazzo floors and quirky paintings and sculptures by Australian makers scattered throughout.
Those bottles may also be alluding to the fact that, unlike its older sibling, Such and Such has a bar licence, so you can duck in for a snifter. Given the thoughtfulness and scope of beverage director James Dickson-Hoyle’s drinks list, that is something you will probably want to do, especially if the weather allows you to park at the al fresco tables out front. Less document than manifesto, the 25-pager is as much a delight to read as it is to order from, with witty and heartfelt annotations underlining the comprehensive selection of natural wines.
There’s an incontrovertibly youthful energy to the whole operation, but if the median age of the Wednesday night crowd is anything to go by, this isn’t a clubhouse reserved exclusively for the cool kids. Even the fresh-faced and decidedly green floor staff possess a maturity well beyond their years. They’re engaged with the material, clearly eager to learn. And who could blame them? In manager Caitlin Baker, they have a leader who’ll no doubt continue to hone their skills. And in Hanslow, Rumble and McQuinn, they have savvy operators for bosses who have something to say. We should all listen up.
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Cassie Abraham
