Huxtable

I have been wanting to come to this joint in the longest time. And I am glad I finally did. We didn’t booked and thought we walked down Smith Street to see what entice us and Huxtable it is. They didn’t have a proper table for us and put us at the bar but I love it. I love watching the chef work. Very impressed with them!
We couldn’t decide what to order, so we went the tasting menu at $ 60 per person and we were so full at the end and didn’t finish the last course. We opt for another savoury instead of the dessert as my friend couldn’t eat sugar.
The menu is split between bites and sea/​land/​earth — love the concept.
Started with warm bread, so homely and good
Then we had edmame with kimchi salt, this is delicious and definitely put a twist to have edamame with jus normal salt.
Jalapeño and cheddar croquette, the jalapeño definitely has a punch to it. Not my favourite for the nite but its still very good.
Beef rending spring roll, the rending sauce was delicious, probably a tad sweet for my liking, but the crispiness of the spring roll and the tenderness of the beef won me with this dish.
Tempura eggplant prawn fritter, eggplant was never my favourite vegetable, but you could hardly taste the eggplant, this feels like a prawn cake, the juiciness of the prawn as you bite into it makes me speechless.
Indian spiced tuna tartare, cucumber, mint yoghurt, papadams, this is different to all the tartar that I had ever had and I love it.
The Korean bbq ribs was ok. The pickle was the highlight of that dish. I felt the ribs was a bit too dry.
Smoked duck breast, chicken liver parfait, golden raisin, duck fat croûton, don’t leave this place without trying this.
Walk, drive, run, fly, but get yourself here asap…

Huxtable has delicious food, a very contemporary menu and some interesting combinations of flavours. Pictures say it all. Between 7 of us at dinner we were well feed and catered for. However on the downside the restaurant overused salt on dishes. We had a delicious salt crusted bread to start with but when the salt started to sprinkled on other dishes as they came out, it started to be a little much. Some dishes really lost the underlying flavours because of this. On a a final positive note though the wait staff were fantastic and very accommodating to our various dietary needs. I’d go again but ask for salt reduction on dishes. Highly recommended.

Huxtable is excellent. The food is really (really!) excellent & the menu is varied & interesting. It’s reasonably priced, the vibe is easy & the staff are lovely.
The menu is designed for sharing & is split into earth, sea & land as well as a few smaller per person bites. We chose the tasting menu which is really well-​priced at $ 60 per person & had about 8 dishes total, all really great. I’m still dreaming about the spicy Korean pork ribs & chai panna cotta.
The wine & beer list is extensive & you can sit at the bar & watch the kitchen work away which is my favourite spot to be.

We dropped into this sleek Smith St eatery for a late lunch of bites and wine. We couldn’t have been happier with the prawn special, the cheese and jalapeño croquettes, and the tempura of eggplant and prawn. Flavours were balanced to perfection and a light Pinot Gris really topped off an exceptional meal. We have to go back for more in the near future.

I won’t lie, I went in expecting a lot from what I’d read. I even took an out of towner in without having been here previously. In short dishes came off as a disjointed mish-​mash, service was sterile, and the bright ingredients and general spark I expected wasn’t there.
We ordered three pieces each from the small bites menu, two sea dishes and two earth. We weren’t guided as to what the recommended split was or allowed any pleasantries by the staff to this point. The nine small bite pieces arrived one at a time over the course of 25 minutes despite only five other people being the restaurant.
For the small bites… The croquettes had a hint of jalapeño, decent texture, light but were bland. We each had one of the XO buns, two had no visible crab meat in them — just a small slither of thai mayo; at $ 6.50 each one of the people I went with got their back up, and rightly so. Chickpea falafel had the most oomph of anything I had from the small bites menu probably because I love cumin. I tasted the tempura eggplant and prawn fritter which was lightly battered and tasty, the most generous serving of all the small bites.
Fish curry arrived with the ‘earth’ cauliflower salad. The salad came with surprise tofu. My wifes mum has a soy allergy; it’s not mentioned on the menu but comprised of ¼ of the meagre dish. They remade it for us without question. The sour curry came in a bowl; about 300ml of curry beneath it. Maybe it was sour, maybe everyone on the tables tastebuds were cooked — plain, no highlight ingredient, protein portion on the smaller side.
Tuna tartare came out next. Best dish of the night for me. Mint yogurt subtle but fresh, good cuts of tuna. We didn’t commit to desert.
Huxtable wasn’t in any way standout bad but our table of three couldn’t see ourselves returning or recommending it based on the above.

Huxtables (located on Smith Street in Fitzroy) seems to be one of those restaurants that polarises people — a lot of diners rave about it, and others describe it as overrated. I’d put myself squarely in the middle of those two opinions based on the quick lunch I had there this Sunday.
I wanted to try a variety of what they had to offer so ordered four items from the «Bites» section of the menu. The first to hit the table was duck liver parfait served with slices of pickled watermelon — some reviewers complained about the small sized serves, but this was very generous. The pâté was creamy and tasty and the fruit gave it a nice lift. Good start, though personally I would have preferred it as a finisher.
Xo bun crab, jalapeño and Thai mayo followed. This Vietnamese style nibble was served on a mini bun and was a little light on the crab and heavy on the mayo. Just OK.
Jalapeño and cheese croquet was next. This was creamy but a little bland and could have benefited from a little more of the hot stuff.
Prawn and eggplant tempura fritter with a chilli dipping sauce was the last dish. This was good — a tasty concoction of minced prawn meat and what looked like slivers of nori fried in a crispy batter. Pick of the bunch.
The service was fast (I was the first customer and was in and out in half an hour), the staff pleasant, and they were playing a nice mellow sound track to assist with my digestion! They also have a bar around the kitchen so you can watch your food being prepared. At less than $ 40 (which included a bottle of Mt Batlow cider) it’s also pretty good value.

Totally overrated. Some items were good some were ghastly. The best thing was the dessert and I don’t even enjoy desserts. Nice interior, friendly staff.

Ah Huxtable. One of those lovely reliable restaurants where you’re guaranteed to get excellent food and a nice atmosphere.
Great wine list, great selection from small bites to share plates and just a nice inviting little space.
I highly recommend the venison tartare — amazingly good! The tuna tartare is also awesome. Mmmm all the raw food.

I think everyone has one of those restaurants where you immediately feel at home, and you wonder how you ever lived without it. For me that place is Huxtable. Maybe it is the menu that does not tie itself to one cuisine, in a world where many eateries are choosing to focus on one type of dish, not just one cuisine. Maybe it is the comfortable, retro-​tinged aesthetic that lets you settle in for a leisurely meal. Or maybe it is the Moorilla ‘Muse’ wine with the naked, grasping lovers on the label. For whatever the reason, Huxtable has become one of my favourite places to while away a few hours, grazing through the menu and sipping my way through the drinks list.
Opened in 2010, by chef Daniel Wilson, a previous winner of The Age Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year, Huxtable was one of the first to take up residence on Smith St (being joined by Rockwell & Sons, Easy Tiger, Josie Bones, Masak Masak and Gorski & Jones). Of course since the opening of Huxtable, the rise of the Huxtaburger has taken Melbourne by storm and there are likely many who do not know the original eatery behind the brand. In fact, on one visit we were wondering where our dining guests were, when we looked over the road to find them sitting outside Huxtaburger waiting for us.
The food picks and chooses elements and flavours from around the world, but never comes across as confused or ‘fusion’. The menu begins with ‘bites’, mostly single serves, but with a couple of shareable items like the foie gras parfait. The jalapeño and cheddar croquette has become a firm staple of the menu, crisp exterior with a rich cheese filling, packing in a chilli kick that leaves you wanting another; the perfect match to a glass of wine or beer. The XO bun is soft and warm, with a subtle, possibly a little too subtle, XO flavour coming through, but the filling of tender crab and fragrant thai basil mayonnaise is mouthwatering. Another favourite on the menu is a punchy lamb puttanesca wrapped in ribbons of crispy filo, offering a contemporary, refined take on finger food. The accompanying lemon yoghurt is thick and creamy, but offering enough acidity to cut through the richness of the slow-​cooked puttanesca.
We then move into the larger dishes ‘to share’, broken up into sea, land and earth. Over a few visits, the menu has revised itself based on the season, but with some old favourites remaining; so some of these dishes may not appear on the menu on your visit. The kingfish has a pungent smokiness, playing off the earthy notes of beetroot and the sweet batons of pear; a horseradish cream strikes that fine balance between overpowering and barely there. A stir-​fry of squid has that smoky je né sais quoi of the wok (wok hei), with thick rice noodles and a fragrant warmth coming from the chilli and curry leaves. The steak is immaculate (coming from someone who rarely orders steak) with a rich and sweet onion butter melting over it, and pickled king brown mushrooms to add a light kick of acidity.
Another permanent fixture are the Korean BBQ pork ribs, likely to cause a riot if they were ever taken off the menu. The sticky, unctuous ribs are simply delicious, with the chilli pickled gherkins offering a perfect counterpoint. Not to be outshone by its partners on the plate, the accompanying spicy slaw is light, not heavy, and the dish sings in balanced harmony. An autumnal highlight on the menu is the roasted duck breast; thick slices of rosy duck, rich and smooth cauliflower purée with lightly spiced, ruby red poached quince. The duck and quince are a wonderful marriage, with just enough sweetness and tartness in the quince to balance the rich duck and purée.
It is the ‘earth’ section of the menu that holds many treasures, which should make any vegetarian delighted, with each dish well planned, well executed and artfully plated. Tender baby carrots are draped with ribbons of zucchini, with satin-​smooth goat’s curd and bursts of pomegranate; a tarragon infused dressing shows restraint and ties the dish together. Cauliflower is roasted to within an inch of its life, giving a caramelised colour and nutty flavour; paired with the sweetness of raisins, crunch from almonds and salty tang of preserved lemon. A warm salad of sweetcorn, bursting with freshness, and black beans is brought alive by the tangy, smoky and spicy chipotle and lime crème fraîche; one of my favourite dishes and one which I have shamelessly stolen to cook at home. Replacing this salad on the menu at the moment is a pimped-​up macaroni and cheese, a wickedly good combination of smoked mozzarella and chipotle, with just the right amount of smoky heat. Their version of a caprese salad features various hues of sweet heirloom tomatoes, milky buffalo curd and micro basil with a strong umami essence from the black olive oil.
On the sweet side, a coconut mousse is feather-​light, joined by the sweet citrus flavour of…
(Run out of space, so you can finish reading at my blog)

Huxtable rises above the pack and is a stellar Melbourne restaurant that soars into the stratosphere. Daniel Wilson owner and chef is a genius. You won’t find the «fake» and the «forced» at Huxtable. The philosophy according to Daniel is to cook the best food that he loves to share with special people. That’s the philosophy. In his words, «life is too short for mediocrity in the mouth.»
Huxtable has already received the acclaim of international culinary giant Heston Blumenthal. The story goes that he visited Huxtable soon after touching down at Tullamarine. He and his friends arrived unannounced and sampled a good deal of the menu. It is told Heston was full of praise for Daniel and the Huxtable team.
And that’s the thing about Huxtable. International culinary giants visit this place. They have heard of the amazing flavour profiles in the dishes. For example the Croquettes include the kick and heat of Jallapenos. But not too much kick — just enough. The creaminess of the Croquettes are enhanced by the cheddar cheese component. So moorish.
The Roasted Duck breast is perfectly cooked and comes with the crunch of red cabbage and the sweetness of quince. But to add the hot mustard is amazing in bringing imagination and balance — particularly when it’s house made mustard prepared by Daniel Wilson.
Huxtable was nominated for «Best New Restaurant» in the 2012 The Age Good Food Guide. Had one of the best ever Saturday afternoons here engaging with kitchen staff. That’s another point of difference. Whereas other venues shun engagement — at Huxtable it’s a joy to sit at the counter in front of the open kitchen and engage the staff. Sublime.
Many wonder, is there a connection to the Huxtables of the sitcom The Cosby Show? Talking with Daniel Wilson the identification was more with Huxley’s «Brave New World» than the Cosby Show. This is a brave new culinary world. Envelopes are pushed but everything works in the most magnificent way. Inevitably people will connect the restaurant to the Cosby’s. And so the design of Huxtable brings in the muted 70s feel of the Cosby show. It embraces an element of «homeliness» to the dining experience — you feel you’re dining in someone’s home. Even the brick features of the Cosby home are incorporated. It’s also an ambience that is very Melbourne.
My favourite dining spot at Huxtable is along the counter to engage with the kitchen staff. The whole team are stars and are recognised in their own right. The ambience is so cool with loud reggae music being drowned out only by the hipster collective in the room. The décor is chic adding to the ambience. Everyone talks about the cool brown swivel chairs in the dining room and rightly so. They work for me, as you tend to slouch a little as the meal progresses into a state of fine dining bliss. The décor has that very Melbourne mismatch fusion between retro and über modern.
Huxtable is a restaurant where nearly every dish is a signature popular dish. As Daniel says, if not it is taken off the menu. Style comes together with creativity and imagination. The olives are great not just because they are exceptional olives but the tangy sauce they are in is superb. Also some quality bread and butter to start. Wine is by the glass and includes an interesting mix of nations.
The mains are spectacular, divided into sea, land and earth. We ordered several shared meals — always love this form of dining as we bring community to the cuisine.
The Twice cooked Wagyu with Vermicelli salad (a thai element), tamarind, mint and peanuts is sensational. The Korean BBQ Pork ribs are one of the best renditions of pork in Melbourne, coming with a Spicy Slaw and chilli gherkin.
Another superb dish is the Warm salad of sweetcorn, black beans, with chipotle and lime crème fraîche. A great dish for winter you just want more of.
The crisp NZ King Salmon with polmelo and peanut and chilli salad is simply amazing. The crispy crusted skin on the salmon and the way it was tenderly cooked is outstanding. The accompanying salad is perfect bringing crunch and freshness to match the salmon.
For dessert the Ice cream and fudge sandwich is super popular and iconic. The Rhubarb jam donuts are crazy good, with orange blossom custard and yoghurt sorbet. Watching the chef inject the donuts with the jam from a syringe was a highlight.
Service was excellent with water being poured into our glasses every 5 minutes and great knowledge, attitude and attentiveness. The staff are professional, knowledgeable and keen to serve. Possibly the best service in Melbourne.

Went with a friend and felt lucky to get in — she had tried to go before and couldn’t get a table. Excellent service: enough advice and friendliness without being intrusive. Some of the food comes in a «bites» category, like tapas but not Spanish flavors. Instead, several are Asian influenced and several seem more middle Eastern. We had an excellent lamb fillo dish, and an eggplant fritter. There are also larger plates; we shared a Thai-​influenced salmon dish and an amazing cumin-​spiced cauliflower dish. I was not wowed by the full-​on dessert listing, but instead ordered the Stilton & quince paste «oreos» — small coins of crispy oatcake sandwiching the cheese and quince paste. Delicious.

Imagine you’re transported back in time to a 70s bistro, except a modern menu followed you through the time warp. Fantastic food in a smallish setting, or intimate, I might say if I were in marketing. It is a relaxed approach to quality dining, and the food backs up the reputation.
I’m surprised by how effectively they’ve used the limited space. Perhaps just a little awkward.
I usually worry about ordering restaurant coffee, but fear not, it is good.

In the last half-​a-​decade or so, Melbourne’s northside has been increasingly viewed as an up-​and-​coming place, a favourite of the hipster and bohemian, the student and young professional. Mirroring this trend, a few inspired dining venues have emerged from its generally nondescript road strips. Around the corner from Gertrude Street, whose super hipster cred has spilled onto Smith Street, Huxtable occupies a somewhat unassuming space. Hardly startling in appearance, its pared-​downed décor exudes one part retro sensibility and another part Thatcherite austerity. It’s almost perpetually full house, brimming with a crowd that mainly consists of a generation who can recall its namesake sitcom. They seat close together on Huxtable’s storm grey banquettes, noir bucket seats, or hard wood perches wrapping around a brick enclosure that houses an open kitchen. The epitome of casual dining done well, Huxtable buzzes with a rather carefree vibe day and night.
…Like «British» cuisine, «Modern Australian» cuisine is a label usually met with smirks of derision. However, a short list of dining venues have redefined «Modern Australian» to mean something alluring, inspirational and as unique as the country itself (MoMo & Coco choose as our favourite examples, Cumulus, Cutler & Co, No 35 and Persimmon). To this list, we add Huxtable, distinguishable as a more casual venue, a comparatively inexpensive entry-​point to modern Australian cuisine. It is indeed a surprise to MoMo & Coco that Huxtable succeeds on our radar. It really shouldn’t — situated in a once-​junkie inner-​city roadstrip, a terribly minimalistic décor, a menu that has no intention to be cutting-​edge but rather, merely cruises through what seems to be a «greatest hits» list of the past decade or so of Melbourne’s dining landscape. Yet, it does work. We love it moreover because its culinary prose concludes with consistently strong dessert epilogues. Your Dessert Correspondents here know far more of books than of televsion shows, so we cannot say if Huxtable lives up to its sitcom namesake. Rather, to us at least, Huxtable’s has a quiet poignancy not unlike a Hemingway novel. Highly addictive, we can hear its bell towing for us to re-​visit yet again

«I used to have such a crush on Theo Huxtable» says my dining companion, as she eyes off the dishes landing on the table next to us.
While I may not have a soft spot for Theo, I do have one for this fantastic little restaurant. With a menu that brings together dishes from various corners of the globe, a tight wine list and a tiny open kitchen that makes for great entertainment, Huxtable is high up on the list of my favourite places on the north side and definitely get’s the tick of approval for «date worthy» venues.
The food? Oyster Po-​Boys (or just natural oysters if you’re a purist like me), sweet corn and crab wrapped in rice noodle, cumin spiced cauliflower, steak tartare mixed with caper berry leaves crowned with a gooey soft poached egg… you can see why Huxtable makes me swoon.

Amazing spot! Huxtable is pretty small, the completely open kitchen takes over the left corner and there is seating all around for everyone to admire the genius’ at work. We are happily settled at a table and the round leather chairs are really comfy!
A glass of Adelaide Sauv Blanc and we are into the menu which is a wonderful mix of dishes that seem to pick up influence from all over the world and come together beautifully. Small bites for everyone to choose as many as they like across oysters, ‘crisp filo log of lamb puttanesca, lemon yoghurt ’ and ‘tempura eggplant prawn fritter, shiso’. I could have easily tucked into one of everything they sounded so good… read more at my blog

As a bloody mary aficionado, I’m here to tell you Huxtable have the best bloody mary I’ve managed to find in this fair city.
Great amount of debris, fantastic balance of flavour PLUS incredibly reasonably priced. Most importantly, unlike other places who purport to be BM experts, the consistency is perfect and not just like drinking tomato purée.
Team with their tapas style menu and your sunday afternoon drinking session is go!

Although the space may feel like you are on exhibition, it’s really the food that people should be watching. With few tables, consider yourself lucky to sneak in, and if offered, grab a seat at the bar to watch the magic; you’ll find yourself wanting to know how indeed the food here is created.
Huxtable is a quaint little space, nicely finished but not overly-​so, as to keep the focus on the food. Modern Australian, which to me is best described as often pulling together the best details from many world cuisines in an excellent synthesis of flavors. The menu is straightforward and has dishes of all sizes to easily dine with just that special someone, or in a larger group, sampling the whole range.
Step one: fish to share. The decision was tough, but we settled on the Yellowfin Tuna and Huon Ocean Trout with Kim Chi, Sesame and Avocado, and the blend of flavors made for an amazingly light and fresh dish. The fish was delicate and rich, with a touch of avocado cream, some not-​too-​strong pickled kim chi, and sesame seeds adding a crunchy, toasted finish. So nice when you get just enough of a dish that you thoroughly enjoy the flavors without being in pain from eating too much!
Step two: have to eat your veges. My friend being part Lebanese, insists on ordering his culture’s foods whenever they are mentioned. I wondered how such rich flavors would mix with our previously lite fares, but was pleasantly surprised by the Lebanese Cauliflower with Harissa Yogurt and Dukkah. The way the cauliflower head was browned, almost caramelized, gave a great woodsy flavor, mixing well with the rich creamy yoghurt and dukkah, to create a main-​course intricacy in an oft-​bland vegetable. We agreed that trying this recipe at home would be ideal, but I doubt my kitchen prowess would prove to recreate such rich flavors. How did they do it?!
Though we thought we were finished at this point, neither my companion nor I were ready to leave, so on to step four: Tempura Eggplant Prawn Fritter with Shiso. Expecting simple, tempura pieces of eggplant and prawn, we instead found a great puff of these ingredients, spongy and full of flavor only lightly battered and crisped. Unbelievable how something that is usually greasy and heavy was made almost into soufflé-​like consistency without sacrificing any flavor or richness. The shiso was light, and gave the right amount of spice to the tempura puffs and made for an excellent final course of our meal!

Huxtable is a high quality eating establishment that breaks the norm from the slightly grimey Smith street scene. They specialise in producing ‘uncomplicated’ food and matching it with complimentary wines and beers. The service is excellent and your glass is hardly ever empty.
We sat outside but you can also sit at the bar facing the chefs as they prepare your food.
I absolute adore seafood and Huxtable was great in these stakes. The oysters were great, the ceviche of scallops, octopus & snapper, chilli, lime was delicious, and the yellow fin tuna and trout was extremely tasty. Each dish was so fresh and full of flavour.
We also had a very interesting salad that had different pickled beets in it. I don’t remember the specifics but it was pretty damn tasty.
The wine was good and all the waitresses seemed to be Kiwi. So you know you are in for a relaxing time.
I’d highly recommend it.

With soft coloured furnishings including wooden stools, wooden tables, tan leather chairs, and grey fabric booths, Huxtable creates a very relaxed and welcoming vibe. The best spot is at the bar where you can see the chefs work their magic in the open kitchen.
When I arrived without a reservation, the server sat me at the bar. Although I have an aversion to stools (I always think I’m going to fall), I was quite happy to watch the chefs cook and chat with them.
The service was fantastic from the start — such a relaxed and no fuss atmosphere. After 20 minutes, my friends still had not arrived. The chef/​owner felt sorry for me. I told him I was reaching my HUNANGRY (hungry/​angry) phase, and what did he do? He gave me a couple of their jalapeño and cheese croquettes on the house. They tasted exactly like jalapeño poppers! When I mentioned this, he told me that was his aim.
The menu, which is to share, had a range of dishes influenced by various cultures, but probably considered ‘Modern Australian’ or ‘Modern European’. Each one of the dish was delicious. To bite, we had oysters, croquettes, and prawns ($ 3.5-$ 8). To share, we had various dishes ($ 18-​$ 29), but my favourite was the ceviche of scallops, octopus, and snapper.
The wine list was great (average $ 70), but I really loved that they had the MR Moscatel by the glass (a bottle is $ 90). I would not normally order it by the bottle, so I ordered it by the glass. They must have loved us, because with our desert wine they gave us free desserts. I had such a great experience here — what you would expect from a new restaurant that is trying to entice their local clienteles to come as often as possible, and I have.