EAT: THE FIFTH PROVINCE, ST KILDA
It seems you don't need to travel the 17,000 odd kilometres for a taste of Irish fare, with The Fifth Province serving up a tasty Irish pub meal alongside all the trimmings of a grand old time.
Complete with live music and an extensive bar menu, the dining experience at The Fifth Province was very much like something out of an Irish pub, except located in St Kilda.
We opted to kick off our meal with The Fifths charcuterie board, comprised of a tasty assortment of homemade chicken liver parfait, jamon, salami and saucisson, accompanied by some crispy thin baguette criplettes, pickles, onion marmalade and dukkah oil. The stand out was the chicken liver parfait and easily one of the best parfaits I've tried to date; it was sensationally creamy and impeccably well balanced in flavour. So good was the parfait that I took to eating it by the spoonful after the crisps had run out so as not to waste any of it! The pickles also brought their A game when it came to flavour, and worked their magic to help cut through the heaviness that came with the meatier components.
Quite fittingly and true to Irish form, their main selections were homey and epitomised comfort food. And were very generously sized. When it came down to the baked salmon fillet, teamed with a pea and leek risotto, the two rivalled one another to steal the spotlight. The risotto was creamy and its grains perfectly al dente, with its flavour further heightened by the parsley oil and parmesan shavings. While cooked well and accordingly to my medium-rare request, the Scotch fillet was a somewhat stock standard affair. Again, the dish was also quite filling given the accompanying serving of hand-cut fat chips, crispy shoestring onions, semi dried tomato and watercress salad. Bring your appetites.
And dinner would not be complete without dessert. The crumble of the time, featuring peaches on the evening of our visit, sounded absolutely delicious. The biscuit and honey oat crumble topping, however, was too dry and often resulted in a powdery coating in the mouth. The saving grace came in the form of the vanilla ice cream and homemade custard. The lemon and lime posset on the other hand more than made up for the disappointing crumble. Almost like a palate cleanser, the sweet tang of the posset in combination with the raspberry salad really awoken the taste buds and each bite had me reaching for more.
If you're looking to take your taste buds on a trip to Ireland or after a good hit of chicken liver parfait, look no further than The Fifth Province.
The Fifth Province
3/60 Fitzroy St,
St Kilda, Victoria, 3182.
(03) 9534 4005
Disclosure: I visited the restaurant as a guest of The Fifth Province and Zilla & Brook Publicity and Production. All opinions expressed in this post are based entirely on my experience and observations made during the time of my visit.