How lucky is it in this current economic and Melbourne property climate is it to have this large a block of land in the middle of hip and happening Footscray? The shipping container thing isn't new to me (ie. Shoreditch) but it's good to see it in Melbourne and doing well. The space of Rudimentary is possibly the finest feature with indoor and outdoor seating, in addition to a vast amount of clean space to sprawl in the sun and tie up the pets/kids.
The soy chai was mildly spiced and slightly weak but at least wasn't overburdened by cinnamon/honey/sugar. It isn't a bad one at all.
Unfortunately on this late lunch day, the most interesting Braised Beans and Poached Kingfish were sold out. The white pudding intrigued me also to see how it compares to one of my favourite breakfast items in black pudding so will have to leave that for next time (with eggs and potato hash).
- Barley porridge (with grilled octopus, pickled vegetables, soft egg, rice crisp) $18 - a savoury dish with Asian elements of octopus, pickled ginger, nori and enoki. It was overall quite nice;
- Pork fillet (smoked kipfler potato, apple puree, braised lentils, jus) $22 - the pork is cooked beautifully with a soft slightly pink core and good seasoning. The smoke is easily discerned in the potatoes and the rest fill the dish.
The cooking is skilful, dishes creative and quite tasty - although I'm not sure I liked them enough to specifically go back for them again. I did think the serves are a little small for the prices too.
Next time I would order Braised Beans with chorizo crumb or otherwise Poached free range eggs with white pudding & mushrooms or potato hash (that would be quite an expensive egg dish in Melbourne at $19 with no vegetables).