So the pressure was on to find another gem that SB did not know of. I found out about Little Hunter when I was doing some research on the internet on what restaurants to check out when in Melbourne. To put it mildly, I was excited when I found this one!
The restaurant is brand spanking new to the Melbourne food scene. New in the sense that it has only been opened for 6 weeks! There are some established food names in the business group that started this restaurant. US native chef Gavin Baker is in town for this venture. He was one of the sous chefs at The Fat Duck. Pete Evans has interest in this venture, so too are some of the owners and management team of Senoritas and Meatball & Wine Bar.
It has an obscure entrance and is actually located in the basement of 195 Little Collins Street.
Little Hunter focuses on the concept of sharing small plates and the Mains are focused on the excellent meats they specialise in.
The meal started with in-house baked pull-apart herb bread served with chicken skin butter. You heard me, chicken skin butter! It was soooo good and obviously so full of fat but we didn't care. There were even bits of chicken skin in the butter. The bread was deliciously warm and soft.
We then had the Beef on Toast. This dish is a layered dish, subtle and extremely enticing. A slice of toast is the base. It is then topped with chicken liver parfait, and thinly sliced beef eye fillet. The toast is then dressed with chives, pickled capers and shallots. We fell in love with the dish. The beef was melt in your mouth tender, the saltiness of the capers and the creaminess of the chicken liver parfait enhanced the flavours. What a medley of flavours and textures and the best way for you to envision how good it is is to try it out yourself! The photo below does not do justice to the actual dish. I wish I had a clearer picture but it was quite dark down in the basement! :)
Pork crackling topped with paprika and white cheddar was served with apple sauce. It was addictive, the crackling tasted like crackers. It was so light and crispy. As we ploughed through them, it didn't feel like we were eating tons of fat.
