Gray and Gray Bread and Wine 188 High Street, Northcote, Victoria 3070

"While the place boasts a chill and cosy atmosphere with great service, unfortunately the food menu falls quite short. The sausage at a $35 was disappointing for value, while it was tasty the price was not justified for the sausage and a small side salad. The brown butter custard dessert however was comforting and had the right amount of sweetness."

"Food: 4.3/5 Atmosphere: 5/5 Service: 5/5 Overall: would return, but would not order the 'Feed Me' menu and opt for a la carte instead. Portions are relatively small but smart ordering (balancing rich plates with fibrous ones) will ensure you leave full - we did! Would recommend: whipped potato and smoked eel, arrowhead cabbage I'll start off by saying the service was lovely, waiters were super attentive and professional. We booked ahead and requested a personalised touch for a special occasion, and they were more than happy to deliver. Disclaimer: although this is a wine bar we didn't have any wines, so obviously can't comment on the beverage aspect. Below is a short review of everything we had as part of the 'Feed Me' menu ($85pp): 1. Preserved sunflower butter and mixed pickle(d vegetables): paired with 2. flatbread and rye: unremarkable. Everything was done well, bread was warmed, but it wasn't much to write home about. Personally not for me. 3. Grilled Brinza cheese w/ honey: sumptuous, creamy, not too salty. Lovely balance of salty, sweet and lemony tartness, but as part of a 2 person Feed Me menu, a 10x7 piece is rather small. 4. Whipped potato, smoked eel, blinis, Kvass, salmon roe: favorite dish of the night. Utterly sumptuous, the smokiness from the eel really added to the dish. Not entirely sure where the blinis were (I didn't see them on the dish). Personally I would've loved more smoked eel, and the portion was, once again, very small. (By comparison, I've had a similar whipped roe and dip dish at comparable wine bars - twice the volume for a similar price.) 5. Braised arrowhead cabbage, smoked fish cream: 2nd favorite - this was an unexpected highly. Lovely umami notes, especially with the charred cabbage. Smokiness of the fish custard really came through but personally I'd have loved more fish cream to go with the cabbage. 6. Broccolini and spigarello pkhali, mustard oil and walnut: very flavourful, lovely crunch, vegetable heavy (essentially a salad). A little salty (but I'm a fan of salt so no complaints). 7. Roasted Jerusalem artichoke, Adjika, sunchokes crisps: lightly spicy seasoning. Almost akin to soggier potatoes. From a personal taste perspective, not a favourite. They kindly allowed us to switch from the Romano beans, so maybe this was on me. 8. BBQ pork jowl, Ajapsandalii: the latter refers to eggplant in a lightly spicy sauce. Perfectly cooked, tender and rich, but a little too fatty for my taste personally. There was a lot of fat - ironically we might have been better off saving some of the pickled vegetable at the start to accompany this. I probably should've, and would've, picked the grilled snapper if not for the Feed Me menu. 9. Kyiv: they kindly agreed to let us switch out the polenta cake for the Kyiv for dessert. Meringue sandwiched in orange marmalade and sponge with chocolate buttercream. Very very rich, overly sweet, heavy. While the individual components were well baked/executed, as a dessert I wasn't a fan. Maybe this is why it wasn't paired with the pork jowl originally. As individual dishes there are definitely a few standouts. As a complete menu, not a fan - the quantities aren't massive (especially compared with similar restaurants) and ordering a la carte would give you more flexibility to choose based on your personal preference. While not dazzling in the creative department, it is certainly some good food, fancied from their original Eastern European origins, paired with excellent service. We'd love to return to try new items a la carte at a future date."

"Spectacular dinner, very tasty dishes well designed and accurate service. Nice bottles available. Highly recommended"