A taste of Europe without the jetlag
FLORES
The Angel of Malvern
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Pack your passport, the menu at Flores is as excited as a backpacker on their first Euro trip. You’ll eat your way through Italy, Greece, France and Spain in a blink, with the chefs cooking the greatest hits from each destination. Flores is the meat (or prosciutto) in the sandwich of newly renovated pub The Angel of Malvern.
The owners, property developers Kokoda who double as hospitality company Refinery Group, have given the old Malvern pokies pub Angel Tavern a squillion dollar makeover. Impressively they’ve added two floors to the existing pub. Downstairs lives the bistro, complete with a new glass atrium. By night, you may want to visit Lately, a sexy listening and cocktail bar for a pre-dinner drink. The middle child is Flores; a modern Mediterranean restaurant that is not a pub restaurant, more a restaurant that lives inside a pub with its own identity.
Sydney chef Justin North (Becasse) and former HER bar chef Josh Rudd are in the kitchen, putting a modern twist on your favourites.
You may start with the flatbread, the size of a tanning mit, with a firm chew and shattery crust. It needs a friend, so plaster that tomato and nori butter served alongside or make the most of the novel antipasti bar that lives on its own white marble in the middle of the restaurant.
Here you can order charcuterie that’s sliced to order from the flywheel, deli-style, with a short selection of local and imported cured meats.
There’s a good mix of fresh and cooked dishes: kingfish sashimi, burrata and the non-negotiable prawn toast. The traditional Chinese snack has been given a Mediterranean makeover. It has bouncy, sweet flesh, sandwiched between sourdough and crusted in pumpkin and sunflower seeds, topped with a saffron mayo- it’s delicious. On pasta, you must try the prawn and lobster ravioli. Picture three sunny, flying saucers, bulging with prawn mince and wading in a bisque that sings of the ocean, which was one of my favourites of the night.
For mains, there is steak, Greek-style lamb and a peri peri half roast chook; which is best shared between two but is a bit of a stretch between three. It’s humming with spice and chilli heat with a wonderful char. Plus those roast spuds, with a squeeze of lemon juice and oregano, are a must. Perhaps the biggest surprise is dessert- a dulce de leche flan that’s jiggly, soft as butter left on the bench in summer, with a luscious caramel sauce finished with a glide of mandarin on the mandolin.
Drinks follow a similar route to the food menu- heavily influenced by Europe, with some decent bottles under $100. Wine by the glass starting at $15. There are two beers on tap, including Flores own lager, with a swag of bottles. If in doubt, order a cocktail.
If you can’t afford a Euro trip this year, Flores will give you a taste minus the jetlag.
Level 1/641 Dandenong Rd, Malvern
Images: Supplied