I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Goodwater’s Lamb Belly Skewers

We’d been at Goodwater for a couple of hours when we decided it was time for a li’l snack. After three beers, what I really wanted was the deep-fried pickles I’ve eaten over and over at the Northcote boozer since it opened in February last year.

Alas – an all-new menu, with nary a pickle, burger or tender in sight. The bar’s strong bourbon and whisky collection was already pulling customers keen for an American dive bar experience, the owners tell me. They ditched the deep-fried food for something more elevated, to suit the wine and cocktail crowd.

I was on board the second the bar’s new lamb skewer touched my lips.

No wonder – the thing takes two days to make. The team sources lamb belly from Grange Meats and dry-brines it for 24 hours. Then it’s rubbed with sumac for a tangy, acidic boost and cooked in its own fat (confit) for 4 to 6 hours in a 100-degree oven until almost falling apart. Like a Chinese master stock, the leftover fat is reused after each batch, intensifying the flavour with each successive cook.

The cooked belly is pressed into a square container and set for 24 hours, much like a terrine. As orders come up, the meat’s threaded onto skewers and finished on a flat-top barbeque grill to add a charry, appealing crunch that contrasts with the squidgy insides.

But wait, there’s more.

Goodwater’s backyard offset smoker was a key feature of the OG menu. Here it’s been repurposed to put an American spin on classic cafe de Paris steak sauce. That means butter blended with garlic, shallot, parsley, worcestershire, dijon and paprika, then smoked over redgum at 50 degrees Celsius for three hours to create something Goodwater calls Cowboy Butter, a thrilling neon-red liquid I wanted to sip off the plate.

Lest all that lamb and butterfat smother your palate, there’s an uplifting squeeze of lemon and a freshening scatter of chives to finish. The latter would get a middling score over at @ratemychives because – here’s the kicker – Goodwater doesn’t have a trained chef in the kitchen, even though the menu was designed by one. Everything’s being assembled by co-owners Nathaniel White and Yao Wong, who are bartenders by trade.

Power to them. I took out two skewers in about a minute and instantly thought about ordering more. Now here I am, almost two months later, writing an article. Even the pickles never got that honour.

Goodwater
300 High Street, Northcote
No phone

Hours:
Wed & Thu 5pm–12am
Fri 5pm–1am
Sat 3pm–1am
Sun 2pm–11pm

goodwater.melbourne