Stephen Downes

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Steve of Bundoora has a challenger to his top spot. It’s on the record that I think his prosciutto is the best I’ve tasted. I’ve even put it in a book. But, gee, the cured ham I ate recently at Dalmatino just about matched Steve’s.
Steve is my Croatian daughter-in-law’s father. He cures his ham in a perhaps dicey way – in a meatsafe under the eaves of his house. (There are few purpose-built stone backyard smokehouses in Bundoora, unlike in the Balkans.) But it’s the care and the constant monitoring that produce great quality. And it’s this kind of domestic rigour that you’ll find in the cooking at Dalmatino.
A Croatian restaurant should be super-modest, provincial – rustic, even. Suppressing hints of bucolic charm in its unpolished hardwood strip flooring and gabled ceiling of bare timber, Dalmatino is actually very stylish. About the size of a rural church hall, it features exposed red brick towards the rear, dark-stained bentwood bistro chairs, black resin table-tops with strip-metal rims, stained timber paneling to the dado and cream-painted pressed-metal walls above, heavy-duty white fabric napkins and subdued lighting. The glassware is excellent and the stainless steel cutlery heavy and classically shaped. Tables are well-spaced and the service is excellent.
Dalmatino’s food, though, bungs nothing on. Seven starters precede three paste or rice dishes and seven mains. Supplementing these items is a bargain $35 three-course Croatian menu with a choice of three entrees, three mains and two desserts. It’s simple, homely stuff that, I was told, will be even more Croatian by the time you read this. (Italian influences will wane.)
We chose Croatian dishes right down the line. The prosciutto served here, by the way, comes from Western Australia and was accompanied by generous clots of grana padano cheese and good black olives. At room temperature, the ham was pale pink, soft, big-flavoured and not too salty… Just wonderful stuff.
Octopus logs starred in an excellent simple salad that included cold lima beans, strings of purple onion, discs of tomato and herbal choppings. Lemon wedges garnished.
The same fine acid-oil sauce dressed a big plinth of grilled swordfish that sat on bits of kipfler potatoes, purple onion, black olives and herbs. Mostly cooked through but remaining succulent, the fish itself had high flavour.
Several ingredients – olives, purple onion, vinaigrette dressings – are common to many dishes in this style of cooking. But my central low island of beef cheek chunks in a fruity, complex reservoir of “red wine and prune sauce” was a cooked offering through and through. Topped with strings of blanched carrot, the meat itself was soft and delicious. Five potato dumplings circled it.
Four potato dumplings – crisp-surfaced yet translucent and doughy – were the eat of the meet, in my view. Their hearts contained a pickled cherry, and they sat in a deep – and deeply red – cherry syrup.
Crepes suzette are highly specific, and Dalmatino’s simply weren’t. A single good folded crepe with a filling of crushed walnuts, double cream and suag arrived with chocolate sauce and sugar-dusted walnut crumbs.
In summary
As time goes by, Dalmatino will be introducing even more Croatian tucker of a rustic, domestic nature. And it’s bound to be good and tasty. Moreover, you’ll eat it in a quite stylish, warm ambience. The wine list is limited, interesting and very well-priced. It’s complemented by a handful of Croatian wines, the one we tried excellent.
Food: Potato dumplings with cherries
Drink: Peljesac Dingac vinarija $26
The feel: Stylish, spacious yet warm
Checklist
Dalmatino
Where: 280 Bay Street, Port Melbourne
Phone: 9645 6584
Chef: Ino Kuvacic
Open: Noon-4pm seven days; 6-11pm Mon-Sat
Parking: In street
Cards: AE, BC, DC, MC, Visa
Seats: 75; 20 on footpath
Liquor status: Licensed
Cost: $35 three-course menu; about $48 for three courses
Score: 14 out of 20