It's a Saturday night and we stroll into Braddon Merchant as a storm brews outside and Post Malone gets ready to cook up another storm over at Spilt Milk. It may be an indication that party season has commenced, as there are two empty cans and an empty bottle outside the front door of the five-star Autograph Collection Midnight Hotel, not far from the light rail stop out to EPIC. Perhaps Post is even in the house, as there's a nice buzz in the bar, with a rainbow of cocktails being pumped out. I'm also quite hungry, having showed exceptional restraint at the hot dog stand during an afternoon watching the Canberra Cavalry baseball team over at Narrabundah Ballpark.
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Hotel restaurants are tough to create. They need to appease the starving, tired traveller who just wants some fuel, as well as offer something a little more creative if they want to appeal to the local market. Places such as East Hotel have moved into the pro leagues in recent years with this, and Realm has gone major league, drafting the culinary genius of Ben Wills. It's simply not easy to appease the travelling salesman, the political staffer, a visiting baseball team and a food reviewer with the same menu.
Our chairs need a quick dust off to get rid of some stray sourdough crumbs, but we are seated by our friendly waitress, who not only appears to be serving the 18 customers on her own at this early stage of the evening but is doing a decent job of it too. The restaurant is sleek in design, wrapped in soft curtains, with clever branding throughout, as well as some striking shots promoting the National Portrait Gallery in the entrance. It has a lovely hunkered-down feel to it with soft, natural glowing light and the promise of good, honest food.
The young 20-something woman on the table next to us has her shoes off and her feet on the chair. This is not the ballpark, and I feel that this is a major challenge for hotel restaurants. Some guests just want to treat it like, well, a hotel. But when you are selling exceptional quality wines upward of $300 a bottle, perhaps there should be a "shoes on" sign at the front door.
Times are tough, but it does seem illogical to try a glass of the Cowra sparkling at $17, when we can buy the Moet for $19 a glass. It works very nicely with my crispy pork belly with apple butter and jus ($22). It is a safe, well-made dish and comes as four perfect towers with a crispy film of perfectly formed crackling. Although I have a strange knack for picking the better dish, also on deck is my wife's saffron-infused buttered mussels with samphire, lemon myrtle and sourdough ($25). This dish is a first up home-run, with layers upon layers of flavour. The saffron character is enhanced in complexity with a very light touch of lemon myrtle powder, chilli, garlic and great use of butter. Executive chef Amit Kashyap should perform a bat flip every time he cooks this.
We steer clear of a few of the safer hotel hits such as steak, either in a sandwich or served with chips, and my companion instead faces the sweet potato, edamame and tahini blend with fried leek, and celery gravy ($22). The soft, baked sweet potato is spiked with orange segments and crispy leeks, surrounded by a remarkably tasty celery gravy, which is a reduction of celery emulsion and Nuttelex. My wife is now two hits from two attempts. My confit chicken maryland with braised leek, pearl cous cous, and chicken butter sauce ($32) is well played, and any umpire would no doubt call it "safe".
Food prices here are very reasonable, and Midnight gives spectators plenty of reasons to stay in house. And it's not just to eat. The wine list is holds its own at "two glass" level, with plenty of import players from Spain, Italy, Germany and France, both famous and yet to be discovered. Fancy a Mount Mary Chardonnay, or a choice of three Grand Cru from St Emilion? They're here. Wine prices go deep though, and I wonder how many bottles of Opus One they sell at $1500 a pop. The Mallaluka Nero d'Avola ($17) is delicious, with plum, black cherry and raspberry notes.
"Shoeless Jo Jackson" has taken some of her own raspberries from the lolly jar in the foyer and returned to her room above. Our table needs a wipe, so we call for a visit to the middle. My blood orange and lemon tart ($16) is a tasty little number, but my wife's black sesame ice-cream with sesame brittle and macadamia crumb ($16) is a grand slam. The crumb provides a textured base to the mound of house made ice-cream and the brittle cracks like a line drive through a backyard window. She now has three hits from three plate appearances.
Recent scouting reports tell us that Post loves his black sesame ice-cream. Perhaps he will pop in later for a bowl or two. Although hotel restaurants can't appease everyone, I expect that Braddon Merchant may just satisfy the rockstars when they are in town.
Braddon Merchant
Address: Midnight Hotel, 1 Elouera St, Braddon
Phone: 6220 0401
Website: braddonmerchant.com.au
Hours: Noon til late, Monday to Saturday; lunch, noon til 3pm, Sunday
Chef: Amit Kashyap
Noise: Fine
Dietary: Excellent options
