432 Glenhuntly Road Elsternwick VIC 3185
T: 03 9532 4322
It was time again for our ‘separatist’ sibling dinner – that is myself, my sister [S2] and my partner [I8there2] – and S2 had recommended this Egyptian joint in Elsternwick called Ernest V who appear to do a roaring breakfast and lunch trade and have more recently opened for dinner as well.
S2 and I decide to meet up early for a few drinks at the Elsternwick pub as I8there2 is meeting us at the restaurant for our 7.00pm booking, so we have an hour and a half or so to kill. You have ‘gotta’ love the sportsbar at the Elsternwick, it’s pretty dodgy but they have 4.0 schooners and we can put a few bets on. I explain to S2 the story about going into the ballot for XX tickets for their one-off Melbourne show at the Forum and how we were unsuccessful – anyhoo I8tthere2 texts that she will be at the restaurant earlier, so we head off. When we arrive around 6.30pm, we are the only people in the restaurant – and to add salt to the wound, they are playing the XX cd.
The joint has a really good ‘Egyptian – Turkish – Middle Eastern’ feel with patterned tiles on the walls and small metal lanterns scattered throughout. Our waitress provides us printed paper menus which are split into numerous share plates and around six mains. It is also fully licensed albeit with a very limited selection listed – we are after a red and the first ‘local’ Pinot Noir we order we are told is not available, which adds to another two on the list already appearing with NA next to their name. There is a Pennyweight from Beechworth but @ 60.0 this is a little pricey for our liking and we opt for an Italian varietal @ 38.0 which is good. I8there2 finally arrives at two minutes to 7.00pm and we decide to order a number of the share plates instead of mains.
We begin with house-made flat bread and dips – a hummus with walnuts and a spicy capsicum @ 12.0 which is all good. Then the green beans with persian fetta and grapefruit segments and roasted baby beets with preserved lemon and pinenuts both really good value @ 6.0 and with strong flavours. With the vegetable dishes come the felafel – large, plump patties topped with a tzatziki style yoghurt and mint leaf @ 5.50 per piece and the lamb cutlets with pesto @ 6.50 per piece which are a little on the small side although very tasty. We then try the sumac filled calamari @ 12.5 which comes as four rolls on a bed of rocket and zaatar, and upon the recommendation of our waiter – who after ordering the wine earlier turned from the girl with the great hair into the bearded owner – the buffalo mozzarella salad @ 18.5. This was served with rocket, fig, nectarine and supposedly bresaola, although we were unable to find any and all dressed with pomegranate molasses to form quite a standout dish – although our original thought of the seven vegetable tagine with Iranian couscous did sound tempting @ 18.5 as well.
Although I thought we would require more food, this proved to be quite substantial – although there was still enough room to share a dessert of lemon syrup cheesecake @ 12.0 with coffee. Ernest V had been getting quite favourable reviews for their coffee and my long black was good but by no means in the league of a Proud Mary or the like, but I am not sure how strong the competition is in Elsternwick.
Strangely on this Thursday night there is only one other table of one sharing the restaurant with us for the whole evening, which is unfortunate as the food, service and atmosphere are all very impressive – perhaps it is just taking a while for word to get out that they are doing dinner as well. Unusually when I asked if I could take a photo of the menu at the end of the evening, [as they do not have this displayed in the window or via a website] I was declined – ending the evening on a bit of a sour note after spending 150.0 with them. A little ridiculous really when I had been taking photos of the food and could have easily snapped one of the menu early on without their knowledge, should I have had my retrospective thinking cap on.
On the whole it was an enjoyable evening and I will probably be back again – albeit with dark glasses and clown wig.