Collingwood 3066
(03) 8415 0700
Eating at Provenance Food and Wine, it struck me that even a restaurant can suffer from an identity crisis. The rustic interior is casual and unkempt, but the menu and prices and closer to fine dining than pub. The food, however, was lacking.
The “Baked gruyere soufflé, mushroom fricassee, spinach, porcini jus” sounded delicious on paper, but when it arrived it was more like a omelette with melted cheese on top with mushrooms that had been cooked before being dried. We also had the “Daily selection of pickled and cooked vegetables, cheese, olives, dips, nuts and breads”. The bread was thinly sliced and toasted with flavour. The roasted capsicum and olives were nothing special.
The only saving grace from making this a completely average and disappointing dinner was the chocolate brownie for dessert. This was an intense slab of chocolate brownie with caramel in the middle, so rich that not even I could eat a whole one (a very rare occasion).