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Thursday May 17, 2012

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Ela picks Claypots Evening Star

Posted by: 3AW Radio | 7 October, 2011 - 3:31 PM
Claypot Evening Star

CLAYPOTS EVENING STAR – Cecil Street South Melbourne 9645 5779

It’s quite the gastronomic strip now alongside the South Melbourne Market there, from Spanish paella and Turkish gozleme to yum cha and good old fashioned pasta, there are plenty of options for weary shoppers. But the new arrival that’s got me salivating and visiting the market with increasing regularity is the latest instalment from a well known St Kilda seafood stalwart - Claypots Evening Star.

This is not a traditional restaurant, more a laid back Mediterranean seafood bar of the best kind, where the seafood is displayed and cooked before your very eyes. So it’s a pretty fluid menu, there is a blackboard if you can find it, but things will appear and disappear according to popularity, and some offerings are advertised only via their presence in the refrigerated cabinets lining the bar – be they squid on a stick, or whole tiger prawns.

So things can be a little bewildering upon arrival, it really is a case of staking and claiming your spot, then perusing the board or the fridges and making your order.

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On a Sunday lunch, it’s hard to go past starting by sharing a bowl of mussels ($10), cooked fresh in a stock with chunks of garlic, onion, parsley and chilli; and the ultimate follow up is wonderfully simple “fish and bread”. It’s pretty much as it sounds, super fresh chargrilled Turkish bread, filled with fish fillet, raw onion, minimal spices and some lettuce ($8). Gloriously uncomplicated, and gloriously good. And that lunch, for two, with a couple of glasses of house rose` will set you back just $40.

Or one of the most popular evenings to visit is on Wednesdays, when Claypots Evening Star hold their “French night”. Food’s the same, but the entertainment has a definite Franco twist, this week there was a female vocalist on piano who sang French classics, then a four piece band complete with double bass.

For me, at night, the mussels are still a staple but it’s a bigger bowl at $15, and for an extra $5 you can get some chewy garlic clams to go alongside them. Scampi’s a little skimpy, but then that meat is so rich it’s still worth it at $7. Scallops are available on the shell individually at $3 a pop, they cooked simply and topped with a vinegarette.

So after nibbling on those starters, it’s back to the blackboard to choose a more substantial feed. Along with fresh whole fish, there’ll often be larger offerings like gumbo for two ($50) which comes out with a HUGE array of shellfish and other seafood, I’m talking crabs, juicy tiger prawns, and chunks of fish. Other options on Wednesday were a Spanish mackerel cutlet ($30), crispy skin John Dory ($25) or a shellfish stirfy ($15), but we went for a whole Cajun-spiced flathead – which comes out as described, a big fish that was easy to serve out and deceptively spicy. On the side the $4 eggplant salad was so small I would have preferred to pay more for a more practical sized serve.

The wine list is large, and there’s a huge array of varietals from both Australia and overseas, the house wines are fine at $7 a glass (I’m a sucker for that house Rose), but you’ll also find some great quality more expensive bottles from Spain, Portugal, and France.

Get in early, this place can really fill up and there are no reservations. You’ll no doubt be limited to dining on a stool at the bar, as the few lower tables are snapped up pretty quickly. When it’s busy you may have physically manhandle staff to get their attention, but somehow it’s all worth it for the laid back feel and fresh, quality seafood.

PLAY: Ela Carte with Ross and John

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