Menu Reveal: Six Dishes To Order at Harriot, the Tipo 00 Team’s Newcomer

It wouldn’t be a venue from the crew behind Tipo 00 without a pasta or two. But that’s basically where the similarities between Harriot, the latest venue from the Conferre Group, and the rest of the molto Italian venues in its stable end. Instead, Harriot is all about giving talented chef James Kelly carte blanche to do just about whatever he pleases.

Kelly was enticed back home to Melbourne from his role as senior sous chef at the Michelin-starred Lyle’s in London. Before moving to England he worked at Embla. He’s reconciled all of his experience so far to write an opening menu that has an affection for classical cooking (with clever updates), prepared with fine Victorian produce.

Harriot hasn’t been open for long, but bookings are already being snapped up fast. We suggest getting your reservation now. When you do come in, these are some of the dishes to keep an eye out for.

Beef tartare, mustard leaves, fresh curd

Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen / Courtesy of Harriot

“For the tartare we’re doing fresh cow’s curd on the bottom, seasoned with preserved lemon. And then on top of that we get wild garlic, throw it on the grill in a little sieve grill and make a pesto out of it. Then we’ve got Wagyu rump for the tartare, garnished with a breadcrumb made from our leftover sourdough and dressed red mizuna from Day’s Walk Farm.”

Rainbow trout, sugarloaf cabbage, lovage

Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen / Courtesy of Harriot

“This is kind of like a semi-cooked crudo. We fillet the trout and cure it with lemon zest and salt for an hour, then we wash it off and bake it in the wood oven for 10 seconds, so it’s kind of half cooked and half cured. Then we peel off the skin and serve it in a big puddle of cabbage dressing made from brined, fermented and juiced cabbage leaves, with charred salted cabbage on top. It’s light, fresh and herbaceous.”

Great Ocean duck, mandarin, turnip

The original version of this dish, featuring quail instead of duck. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen / Courtesy of Harriot

“Quite a lot of work goes into the duck. We’re using Great Ocean ducks, which I think are some of the best in the country, and aging them for about a week. We make a sausage from the drumsticks and confit the thighs, then we make a sauce with the necks and all that. Then, in service, we grill the breasts and the rest in the wood oven. It comes in a thickened duck consommé with mandarin puree and some beautiful turnips. It’s like three different bits of really nicely cooked duck with some old-school French plating. People really seem to enjoy it.”

Spanner crab ravioli, pumpkin bisque

Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen / Courtesy of Harriot

“At the other restaurants, obviously pasta is a focus. We want to be a little bit different from Tipo and Osteria Ilaria, so we’ve started with a rule of doing just two pastas for now: one vegetarian and one non-veg. And we’re trying to do it in a little bit of a French way, so the veggie pasta has comté cheese and this crab ravioli has a classic bisque sauce. It’s pumpkin season, so we’ve used that in the bisque instead of tomato. And inside the ravioli there’s a mix of picked spanner crab and gurnard.”

Lamb sweetbreads, finger lime, witlof

Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen / Courtesy of Harriot

“Sweetbreads aren’t super popular here in Melbourne, but you see them a lot over in Paris and London. We’re pan-frying ours with a bit of brown butter, then adding capers, lemon juice and parsley. It’s a grenobloise – a bit of an old-school French pan sauce. And then we put witlof and finger lime on top to balance out that chicken stock and buttery sauce, with some croutons to make it crunchy.”

Chocolate sabayon tart, wattleseed, buttermilk ice-cream

Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen / Courtesy of Harriot

“We thought it would be fun to start with a classic chocolate sabayon tart on the menu. It was super popular today at lunch – lots of people had a slice. We make a ganache with whipped eggs folded in so it’s very airy – not too thick. Then it’s cooked super quickly in the oven. It’s really soft and decadent, and we serve it with ice-cream made with the buttermilk we get from producing our own butter.”