A Review of 3 hatted Amaru in Armadale, Melbourne

Amaru

1121 High Street

Armadale, Vic 3143

Australia

Link to Amaru's Website

We visited the 3 Chef Hatted Amaru in Armadale, Melbourne a while back but I had been procrastinating on this post for a while. Amaru currently sits with a total of 19 Chef Hats and by definition of the Australian Good Food Guide, puts it in the category of "Superlative Food and Wine: Internationally Acclaimed" and worth a special journey. Similar to what you would expect from a 3 Michelin Starred restaurant.

Amaru means "A Beautiful Place to Love". The name is an amalgamation of the aboriginal word "Amaroo" which means beautiful place as well as "Amar" which means to love in Portugese. The restaurant is comfortable, plenty of wood and gorgeous ceramics. Chef Clinton Mclver is behind Amaru and he was previously at Vue de Monde, under the mentorship of Chef Shannon Bennett, a very famous name in Australia. Here at Amaru, it has a very different vibe from Vue de Monde and the food is also different. No molecular gastronomy, no fancy foams and dishes disguised, but rather a contemporary tasting menu that focuses on Australian produce.

Green butt ants are a staple in many Australian Restaurants as an introduction to the native bush

For our winter menu, we had:

• Marigold, Carrot, Fingerlime, Bergamot

• Organic Radish, Bonito, Horseradish

• Kohlrabi, Sunflower Seed, Desert Lime Kosho

• Chickpea, Swede, Fermented Peppers

• Sea Lettuce, Beetroot, Skipton Eel, Quandong

• Heirloom Melons, Bunya Nut, Sunrise Lime

• Mud Crab, Celeriac, Mussel, Sea Parsley

• Western Australian Marron, Seaweed, Bitter Lettuce, Clams

• House Sourdough, Honey Mead Vinegar

• Quail, Qince, Pumpkin Seed Miso, Hibiscus

• Dry Aged Pork, Muntries, Warrigal Green Kimchi, Fermented Pear

• Bees Wax, Camel Milk, Green Tomato, Green Garnet Plum

• Rainforest Cherry, Koji, Davidson Plum, Saltbush

• Shitake Fudge

• Rhubarb, Rosella

• Chocolate, Native Lychee

Our dinner was very unfamiliar, which is something I typically enjoy. When you go to any country and they serve up native and local produce. It is typically a sensory explosion as you figure out what these new flavours and textures are. It was like that at Amaru. They played with fermented fruits, foraged herbs and Australian produce and it was a very nice experience sitting on the chef's bench, watching the team in the kitchen do their magic. On saying that, at times we felt like the meal became somewhat unnecessarily complex and complicated and we didn't know how the progression of dishes and flavours belonged to the narrative arc of the menu.

Together with our meal, we had both the wine pairing as well as the non alcoholic pairing. I love the fact that in Australia you'd typically get a very international selection as part of your wine pairing. In the case of Amaru, we got to see some wines being showcased that we would otherwise never see in a restaurant in the northern hemisphere, like a Japanese wine and a New Zealand Riesling.

Wine pairing:

• 2022 Adrien Berlioz 'La Cuvee des Guex' Jacquere, Savoie, France

• NV Kinmon X3 Rose Menkoina, Akita, Japan

• 2022 CRFT 'The Arranmore Vineyard' White Pinor Noir, Adelaide Hills, South Australia

• 2021 Chateau de Vaux 'Les Hautes-Bassieres' Pinot Noir, Moselle, France

• 2022 Tenuta delle Terre Nere 'Etna Rosso' Mascalese Blend, Eta, Italy

• 2022 Kracher 'Auslese Cuvee' Welschriesling Blend, Burgenland. Austria

• 2023 Reed Wines 'Frequency' Botrytis Riesling, Waitaki Valley, New Zealand

Non-alcoholic pairing:

• Apricot White Tea

• Celeriac Tea

• Kumquat Leaf Mead

• Quince and Pu'er Rose

• Lilly Pilly Wine

• Melon and Native Tea Tree

• Cherry Ripe

The pairings were phenomenal, in particular the non-alcoholic pairing. There was great thought into matching the drinks with the dishes, especially when off cuts were fermented or used in the prep of these drinks. This combined so exceptionally well with the menu. Our highlight of the night!

Booking

There are tables about 2 weeks out on a weekend. I highly recommend booking a seat at the Chef's Counter because it is always such a fantastic experience watching the chefs prep your food. Do note that if you choose to be at the Chef's Counter, it is necessary to have a pairing option together with your meal. The non-alcoholic option runs at 95 AUD, which I highly recommend. And the wine pairings range from 165 AUD to 555 AUD.

Accessibility

Amaru is in Armadale and is considered rather accessible. You can either take the Frankston line from the city to Armadale station and walk about 10 mins or take tram 72 from Swanston street in the city. The train is slightly quicker but expect the whole journey to be around 30-40 mins in total.

The Damage

Total Damage for the night didn't come cheap at 900 AUD for 2 pax. The tasting menu was 320 AUD pp and we had one each of the non-alcoholic pairing (95 AUD) and the road less travelled wine pairing (165 AUD)

Would we recommend?

Unfortunately not. We enjoyed the exploratory portions of this menu and the creative use of native Australian ingredients and delicate plating. We absolutely loved the non-alcoholic pairing and the hospitality of the team at Amaru. However, we were left wanting and wondering about more. Not in terms of portion size but in terms of feeling cohesion from start to finish.