LOCATIONDocklands
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAFrom the hugely successful creators of Melbourne favourites Mecca and Mecca Bah is Livebait, a southern Mediterranean seafood restaurant that has joined the ranks as a firm favourite. Its elevated position above Mecca Bah on Dockland’s New Quay Promenade ensures optimum views of the harbour, Boite Bridge and the city’s high rise landscape which twinkles endlessly at night. Oh, and the food’s pretty darn good too.
Livebait’s menu has an authentic Spanish feel to it with bold and often rustic flavours. Start with an entree of tiger prawns with chorizo, fennel, orange and basil salad, or perhaps the crispy fried zucchini flowers filled with goat’s cheese, currants and pine nuts on caponanta. Follow with chargrilled Woodend rib-eye with potato mash, mushroom ragu, roasted onions and watercress salad, or the saffron linguini with scallops, prawns, mussels, fish, calamari and crab tossed in chilli, garlic and parsley. Finish with a tempting dessert such as the vanilla, honey yoghurt pannacotta with poached peach and raspberries, or perhaps the Artisan cheese selection served with quince paste, muscatels, matzos and walnut bread. The wine list is well matched to the food style and includes Italian, Spanish and French varieties among the Australian offerings, with over 25 by the glass.
Veda Wickens
