4

P

erhaps it’s the soundtrack.

Richard Clapton’s “Girls

on the Avenue”, Stevie

Wright’s “Evie”,Midnight

Oil’s “Blue Sky Mine”. But there’s

also nostalgia with the location.

The sleepy strip of mostly single-

storey shops in West Footscray

feels more small-town 1970s than

Melbourne suburb-on-the-rise.

Most probably it’s just that Harley

& Rose, the first venture by

McConnell alumni Josh Murphy

and Rory Cowcher, has landed

with such confidence that it

feels like it’s been here forever,

slinging wood-fired pizza,

Meatsmith charcuterie and

minimal-intervention wine since

Skyhooks were in the charts.

The circa-1960s Modernist bank

building plays its part. It was a pizza

restaurant before Murphy and

Cowcher rode into town, bringing

Projects of Imagination with them

to do the fit-out. It’s quirky now,

with blond timber banquettes,

acres of beige canvas blinds, safety

glass, red neon in the front window

and red lighting in the bathrooms,

a parquetry floor and a creamy

yellow paint job. It has a sort of

1960s suburban bank-clerk chic.

There’s nothing retro about

the food. Murphy and Cowcher

have pulled together a solid list of

approachable, shareable dishes that

are trend conscious without being

annoyingly on song.

Fans of Fitzroy’s Builders Arms

Hotel will be pleased to see the

cod-roe dip make a creamy, salty

appearance here, accompanied

Hit parade

Smart operators and chart-topping eats

make Harley & Rose good news for West

Footscray, writesMICHAEL HARDEN.

Top, from left:

manager Mark

Williamson

and chefs Josh

Murphy and Rory

Cowcher. Above

left: smoked

ocean trout with

Grand Marnier

and horseradish.

by shiny, crisp-edged house-made

focaccia. The dip’s customised

with curly parsley and a dusting

of dried fermented spicy peppers.

Other good snacks challenge

the dip for star attraction.

Ocean trout, cured in sugar,

salt and coriander seed and then

smoked, arrives robustly flavoured

and thrillingly textured under

a mustard and Grand Marnier

emulsion, with grated horseradish

and a liberal scatter of dried dill.

Thick slices of green tomatoes are

coated in a tapioca and rice flour

batter (the batter recipe borrowed

from Lee Ho Fook’s Victor Liong),

fried and served with crème fraîche.

There’s Louisiana hot sauce sitting

in the caddy on the table. Use it.

Another simple but spot-on

tomato dish sees heirloom tomatoes

grated to a pulp, seasoned and oiled

and then lightly smoked. They’re

teamed with stracciatella and

garnished with dried purple basil

leaves. It manages to be both

comforting and refreshing.

The wood-fired pizza oven is

put to good use. Plate-sized pies are

delivered with just a smattering

of char around the edges of a base

made from a sourdough starter

with a little yeast – more chewy

New York-style than Neapolitan.

Toppings include a pipi, onion,

cream and thyme combination

that’s rich and sweet with an

attractive briny finish (the onions

are cooked gently with cream and PHOTOGRAPHY MARCEL AUCAR & KRISTOFFER PAULSEN (PALERMO)

56 GOURMET TRAVELLER