Send to a friend

Print

del.icio.us this

Digg this

Vulcans

Phillip Searle knows his strengths: perfect slow-cooked meat and seafood with Asian influences in a compact and largely unchanging menu that shows off his skills, and the woodfired oven at the heart and soul of this slightly odd café-like space. You won’t get much in the way of frills (or smiles from the staff). Instead, cram into the noisy, concrete-floored room for deftly complex flavours amid deceptively simple presentation. Beef pot-roasted with kaffir lime and lemongrass equals a mouthful of silken, spiced contrasts, while the acidity of glazed roast pork finds its punchy counterpoint in a cucumber salad dressed with tamarind, soy and chilli. The famed chequerboard ice-cream, a pineapple-and-star-anise triumph of style and substance, endures, even in winter. Austerity or purity? Unchanging or timeless? Vulcans is nothing if not polarising, yet its fans remain staunch.