Parlour began its life with a focus on wine, searching far and wide for existing and unusual wines, and focused especially on Spain to match a menu that was all about tapas. While there is a separate bar food menu still offered, much of that determined focus has gone, and Parlour has settled into a different personality and more pan-Australian menu.
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It remains a very pleasant and comfortable space. The tables are arranged around a large central bar, and variously hidden behind curtains and dividers and knick-knacky furniture, with couches and chairs for a more casual encounter. It's busy, and takes us a few tries to get a booking - it seems to be the kind of place that gets booked out for weddings and parties which you can imagine working really well. It's part of the New Acton cluster, with Bicicletta at the other end of the building, Morning Glory between, and a downstairs bar here also.
We struggle a bit to be excited by the menu. The mains are fish, beef, pork or spatchcock, plus a vegetarian dish. Remarkably traditional. The pork loin ($32) comes as two fat fillets of pork that have been crumbed and fried. It's served with mash, salsa verde, piperade and apple remoulade and mustard, largely what you would expect with pork, except for the pepperonata, which has a smokey taste perhaps from paprika. This is a likable accompaniment in itself but the entire dish is a little crazy with mustard - the strong mustard sauce is served on everything and dominates. The mash is distinctly salty. While the pork is tender and cooked perfectly well, in all, the dish is not a big success.
Perhaps our best dish tonight, other than dessert, is a starter of harissa eggplant, with beetroot chutney, chimi churri, fried chickpeas and golden beets ($18). The eggplant strips are soft and hot from the harissa, the beetroot chutney is early and sweet. There are thin, minimally cooked slices of beetroot on top and the chickpeas are dry, crunchy and snacky. It adds up to a decent way to start.
The other entrees offered are duck breast with carrots, whiting with fennel, and an octopus terrine - like the mains, not as adventurous or focused as the early days of Parlour. Pressed octopus terrine with pimento puree and black lavosh ($19) feels a little over-engineered for octopus which is usually best when simple. The octopus is tender but it doesn't taste sparkling and the spice only adds to a sense of smothered flavour. There are a bunch of welcome pickles on the plate, crunchy slices of beetroot, and that smoked flavour again in the pimento puree.
In the mains, the vegetarian option - mushroom gnocchi, wild mushrooms, broth, manchego and sage egg yolk ($28) - sounds good. It is, though, just very unusual. The gnocchi are large, very large, and kind of floury, big pillows, fried and then served in a broth. The broth is pleasant and mushroom flavoured, with loads of baby mushrooms and enoki in the mix, but also cheese shavings. The combinations are odd and the gnocchi is too large and heavy.
The wine list here is remarkably brief and the varieties stick to the well-known rather than venturing into the exciting blends and unusual grapes that dominate chichi wine lists now. In the whites by the glass, there's a pinot grigio, a sauvignon, a riesling, a chardonnay and two "varietals" - Lerida's viognier-pinot gris and Innocent Bystander moscato. In the reds, a tempranillo and malbec joining the shiraz, cabernet and merlot and pinot noir. Plus there's bubbly and rose. The list is adequate, if unexciting by the glass, and looks to have a deliberate bent towards wines it can list below $70 a bottle. The locals are Lerida (rose and the blend), Eden Road (riesling) and Gallagher (sparkling and merlot).
In desserts, dark chocolate fondant ($17) looks the goods, but doesn't really live up to the promise. It's a thin chocolate crust enclosing an entirely liquid centre, quite sweet and not especially dark. Served with a decent vanilla ice cream and pistachio crumb, it's decadent but not luscious.
The honey goat's cheese custard ($17), though, we really like. It's warm, smooth and a very good dessert on a cold night. It has a very sweet passionfruit top with shaved coconut, and alongside a little bowl of runny honey that is too much as an accompaniment.
New Acton might not be quite the popping hub of innovation and youth that marked its beginning but the bike-repair guy is still here in his roughly three square metre workshop and there remains a sense of surprise and destination. It's a shame the same can't quite be said of Parlour. A good feeling still, but the menu could do with a shake-up.
Parlour
Address: 16 Kendall Lane, Acton
Phone: 6257 7325
Hours: Monday to Sunday, noon to late.
Owner: Bria Sydney
Executive chef: Sam McCarthy
Head chef: Brett Waslin
Vegetarian: Plenty of options and a bar menu
Noise: No problem
Score: 13/20
