Five Dishes To Order at Milton Wine Bar: From Clams Casino Pizza to Brick Chicken

Malvern watering hole Milton Wine Bar & Bottle Shop has changed a lot since it opened in 2014. “It’s gone from a very casual place with bar service to somewhere that still feels casual, but now has white tablecloths,” says Tane Flanagan, the head chef of more than two years.

It’s part of the hospitality group that includes Armadale’s low-key Toorak Cellars and Richmond’s a-little-fancier Clover. Since Milton gained a “proper kitchen” and a wood oven in recent years, Flanagan says it’s now more like the latter than the former.

“Everything has an element of coal or flame or smoke to it,” he says. Woodfired pizzas are a drawcard, but there’s more to discover at this neighbourhood gem on Malvern Road.

And there’s nothing holding you back from eating your way through the menu. Broadsheet and NAB have teamed up for Booking 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 – like Milton – countrywide.

Here are the five dishes Flanagan reckons you should try at Milton.

Anchovy toast

A Milton signature, this Spanish-inspired anchovy toast is too popular to tweak or take off the menu, Flanagan says. It starts with day-old house-baked focaccia that’s toasted over the coals, then layered with a “really punchy, herby aioli”, pickled white onion and a fillet of Spanish anchovy. And, to finish, some Aleppo pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

Woodfired calamari with brown butter and wild mushroom carpaccio

Flanagan sources whole calamari from Corner Inlet – some of the best in the state – which is first sliced into “little noodles”. With a flash of heat in the wood oven, in a pool of brown butter, they curl up nicely before being seasoned with vinegar and black pepper. The calamari is served on an autumnal pile of finely sliced mushrooms (currently pine, but it changes seasonally), resulting in a carpaccio that’s flavoured with thyme and chilli.

Cumin lamb shoulder with spiced eggplant, parsley and Calabrian chilli

This is a dish that Flanagan envisions will stick around for a while. A spice rub that’s heavy on cumin and pepper is lathered on lamb shoulder – sourced locally from Loddon Valley – that’s then braised until tender in the wood oven. Accompanying it is a similarly spiced mix of braised eggplant and tomato, a parsley salad and spicy Calabrian chilli.

Clams Casino pizza

Milton is known for its woodfired pizzas and Flanagan’s “favourite at the moment” is the clams casino. It riffs on the classic Italian-American dish, where clams are traditionally served on the half-shell topped with herbs, bacon and breadcrumbs. Sweet Goolwa pippies are steamed, shelled then baked onto the pizza with a panko crust that soaks up the creamy sauce.

Brick chicken with maitake, spigarello and jus

It’s not just a name: this crowd-pleasing roast chicken “gets a literal brick put on top of it as it’s cooking ... it’s an old Italian method,” says Flanagan. Chooks are brined for 24 hours with top-quality herbs from Somerset Farms, then seared skin-side down in a screaming hot pan before taking to the oven. Smoked chicken frames make for a delicious jus for the dish, which is rounded out with spigarello, heirloom leaf broccoli.

The Broadsheet Dining Program Special Offer of a $50 discount when you spend $250 or more is available when you dine at a Participating Restaurant between 13 January 2026 and 16 December 2026. To be eligible for the Discount Offer, you must make a booking via the NAB Exclusive Booking Link for the Participating Restaurant which is found on the Broadsheet Booking Page and spend a minimum of $250 on your NAB credit card. Between 2 June 2026 and 16 December 2026, Select venues will also accept NAB debit card payments. The Discount Offer will apply at the Restaurant when you pay the final bill amount including GST and service fees and charges (if any) with your NAB credit card (includes a digital NAB credit card) or NAB debit card (includes a digital NAB debit card) at select venues. The Discount Offer is only valid once per booking and will not apply to any split bills and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. For the full Terms and Conditions of this Offer, please click here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with NAB.