Head Chef Kate Ottens Reveals Her Five Favourite Dishes at Bar Lune

Wine bars often straddle the line between serious dining and casual snacks, but the best – like Beulah Park’s Bar Lune – seem to strike just the right balance.

“We’re creative, but nothing too serious, and a bit playful,” says head chef Kate Ottens. “Instead of thinking all the time that someone’s dinner’s got to be fantastic and amazing and exceptional, it’s just remembering that food is fun and exciting, and it can be a little bit more creative and doesn’t all need to be so rigid.”

Of course, there’s nothing wrong if the dishes are exceptional – as is often the case with Ottens’s cooking at Bar Lune. Broadsheet and NAB have teamed up for Bookings With Benefits, a dining program that gives you $50 off the bill when you spend $250 or more and pay on your NAB credit or debit card at selected venues – including Bar Lune – across the country.

To demonstrate how the wine bar’s style shows up on the plate, we asked Ottens to run us through the five dishes worth ordering.

Seared Abrolhos island scallop

WA’s remote Abrolhos Islands are famed for the sweet flavour and meaty texture of the local scallops, which are undoubtedly the stars of Bar Lune’s signature small plate. As Ottens explains, though, it’s the addition of chestnut puree that gives this dish an extra dimension.

“Chestnut is quite an exciting ingredient to work with,” Ottens says. “If you’re in Europe walking around, it’s like you see it everywhere, but it’s something people aren’t super familiar with here. The texture and flavour, I think, can be quite delicate and sweet with the leek and scallop. It’s just simple and elegant.”

Mortadella skewer

The mortadella revival is in full swing. While local panini shops are filling sandwiches with the humble cold-cut, Ottens is taking a more inventive approach. Here, mortadella is threaded onto a skewer in layers being lightly chargrilled, adding smoky flavour and colour.

“It’s supposed to be more fun and approachable – a cured slice of meat that everyone’s familiar with,” Ottens says. “We’ve got salsa verde to bring out the brightness, and pickled mustard seeds, which I think is a fun little pop in your mouth. It’s just something great to snack on whilst you’re drinking wine or talking, and it just looks beautiful on the plate, folded onto the skewer.”

Beef carpaccio

Like Ottens’s scallop dish, the beef carpaccio is a recognisable wine bar classic elevated through thoughtful attention to detail.

“Beef carpaccio is very traditional, very simple,” Ottens says. “We’ve just tried another take on that whilst keeping the richness there with pecorino and truffle. Then we’ve brought in a pickled kohlrabi element – a different acidity than you’re used to with beef carpaccio. Kohlrabi is very seasonal, it’s bright, and it eats well.”

Squid noodles

In recent years, the AFL has turned its eyes firmly towards South Australia for the statewide takeover of Gather Round. While most attention has been on the on-field action, Ottens has managed to steal a little of the limelight with an inventive squid noodle dish that has since found a home on the Bar Lune menu.

“I did an event for Bar Lune for a long lunch for Gather Round, so it was between two chefs and we each did two dishes,” Ottens says. “We did the squid noodles, and it was the standout dish of the day, so we tried to work those squid noodles onto the menu somehow, so we can showcase something a bit cooler that we can do.”

To pull it all together, Ottens hand cuts squid noodles to order, cooking them with a quick, high heat over the grill before serving with roasted cauliflower puree and a hazelnut and lemon vinaigrette.

Slow-cooked lamb shoulder

Amongst the smattering of small plates, Bar Lune also offers larger dishes designed for the centre of the table. When the weather cools down, that means a hefty 500 grams of slow-cooked lamb shoulder.

“I think it feels like a generous dish, and built for sharing,” Ottens says. “It suits the venue, especially in these winter days when it’s raining. It’s warm, it comes in a cast iron pan full of jus on the base, a nice salsa rosso on top. It’s just something warm, something familiar.”

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