Scorcher reviews: Wolf on Watton — ‘the great all-rounder’
Wolf on Watton
90A Watton St, Werribee
wolfonwatton.com.au
Ph: 9742 6777
Get your wolf pack ready.
Wolf on Watton, a spiffy new café-diner serving meals at all hours of the day, has stalked its way into Werribee to a howl of excitement from locals.
Wolf on Watton in Werribee – we haven’t seen that number of “W’ words in a row since the invention of the world wide web – is the great all-rounder; it begins the day as a café, then morphs into a restaurant in the evening and turns into a bar during the moonlight hours.
Committed to enhancing Werribee’s food scene, Wolf on Watton champions its locality. It’s run by two brothers, James and Nathan, whose family has occupied the site for four generations, beginning life as a fruit and veg store run by their great-grandmother in the 60s. Their nonna then ran a coffee shop here for 10 years and now the boys share restaurant duties with their mum and dad.
If you’re popping in for breaky or brunch, expect to chow down on dishes like sriracha chilli eggs with tom yum salad (ah, yum), buckwheat and sous vide salmon blinis with avocado mousse and sauerkraut, or truffled mushrooms with brie and kale. More standard fare, like a big breakfast with maple bacon and the mandatory “crushed” avocado, is also available.
On the lunch menu there’s a range of burgers, healthy salad bowls and the scrummy-sounding lemongrass beef ribs, marinated and slow cooked over 24 hours.
For dinner, we wolfed down a plate of sticky pork belly with chilli-caramel sauce and Chinese broccoli. Also on the evening menu is a 500g rib eye, chicken ballotine with prosciutto and truffled gnocchi with mushroom ragu. Lighter options abound too, like the seafood linguine with calamari, crab and fish, cooked in a lobster bisque emulsion, and served with zucchini and heirloom tomatoes, and an ancient grain salad bowl.
After dusk, diners are encouraged to slow down and graze over a glass of wine and a meat and cheese board board, or even nibble on some smaller bites like manchego croquettes or rectangles of bruschetta if you’re not up for a full meal.
With an industrial-style fitout and undercover outdoor dining area, the boys have certainly done a good job marking their territory on a strip that is looking a little tired.
So if you find yourself hungry like the wolf and in the west, Wolf on Watton is a place that caters to all, from the early birds right through to the night owls.