The Commoner
122 Johnston St, Fitzroy
03 9415 6876

Spring has finally SPRUNG!!!!!  (Well, at times at least) and not only the flowers are blossoming, but restaurants are taking this opportunity to get us out of hibernation too, by bringing these awesome “Spring events” to us.  In the next few weeks I will blog about a few of these events, but the first cab off the rank is The Commoner, a contemporary Brit restaurant with a homely setting.

So until 30th Sept, for lunch and dinner, you pay $55, sit back and enjoy a feast!  Now the website has a menu of the Spring Graze event, however, what they bring out was a little bit different so don’t rely on the menu.

Here’s what we had that night:-

White anchovies with peppers and crostini- I never like anchovies… they are slimey and salty and someone told me that they are like wet eyelashes?  I like it all mashed up but not lay out like that.  That being said it worked really well with the sweetness of the peppers and the crunchiness of the crostini to counteract the slimeness… WIN!

Next up is the deep fried cheesy potato balls!  Hubby eyes lit up- POTATOES!  His Favourite!  They are cheesy and creamy, crunchy and melt in your mouth.  Perfect little morsels that makes you smile.

We also got some green peppers!  Okies… that was interesting… we poked at it and hummmmed and ahhhhed about it for a while then hubby finally took the plunge and ate one.  Then he just kept eating it.  Dr. B and I managed to get a few too and it was awesome- simply dressed with olive oil and salt, the peppers were crunchy, fresh, not too chilli but scarily addictive.

  Welsh Rarebit with a really cute egg yolk sitting prettily on top of grilled cheddar cheese and smoked eel.

This is more like a healthy breakfast than a dinner dish but I quite like it.  To be honest the eel is a bit rubbery, nonetheless the eel is very fresh and so is the egg.  There’s a kind of sweetness on the egg that really complements the eel.

Shellfish stew!  It can be a disaster if the seafood wasn’t fresh but of course, this is The Commoner and their food is not common at all.  Delightful mussels, clams and fish happily swam in a seafood broth, which I think I tried to scoop up every single drop.  YUM!

The much touted Spring Lamb arrived, dressed with baby vegies, chickpea dumplings and home made ewes milk yoghurt.

I actually like this dish the least, the deep fried chickpea dumplings is just too oily and doesn’t seem to match the rest of the dish.  The spring lamb is a bit chewy.  That being said I love the tender asparagus and the glaze was beautiful.

To accompany the spring lamb was some golden fried potato- the joy in my hubby’s eyes was unmistakable.  Indeed the potatoes were perfectly cooked and seasoned.  Crispy on the outside and floury on the inside, my mouth just water thinking about it.

What I love about The Commoner is that the dishes are true to their flavours.  There are no gimmicks about it, just good, honest food that is served in a homely environment.

Dessert time!  Woot!  Is this chocolate?!?!?! *excited*  Actually it wasn’t   It’s Abbotsford Stout pudding with salted caramel sauce.  We all made a what the? face.  But once again we are pleasantly surprised- this must be chocolatey stout!  Moist and sweet, I even like the salted caramel sauce- it’s such a perfect match!  I think I could have eaten all three of them if I had a chance!

Of course the second dessert is everyone’s favourite- DONUTS!  Dusted with almond sugar, you have an option of drizzling it with a white chocolate and pistachio sauce.

What a perfect end to a perfect night.  Only one little thing is that they didn’t really offer us tea or coffee afterwards… not too sure why not, but I would have happily paid for a cup of peppermint tea after all these food.

Either way I highly recommend you all to take advantage of this month’s yummilicious offer and try it out for yourself!  8.5/10