Swan Street really has become one of the real foodie destinations of our very foodie city. This has slipped by me, because my interests tend more toward the CBD, Fitzroy, Carlon, Collingwood, and so on. On a recent trip to another restaurant in Swan Street, I took a wander and was surprised to find so many hip eateries. Of Victoria Street, Bridge Road, and Swan Street--Richmond's big three strips--Swan Street strikes me as more high end, and definitely trendier, than the other two.
Feast of Merit (weird name; I meant to ask the staff where it came from, but didn't get around to it) is an ultra-hip venue serving large portions of well-prepared middle-eastern fusion cooking. The staff are young, impossibly good-looking, perfectly groomed, and mostly decorated with a fine range of designer ink. They are also knowledgeable, efficient, and polite, so it's definitely not a case of style over substance.
I dined here with a large group, which meant that we were pretty much obliged to have the set menu, which is fine; I totally understand why venues such as this require large groups in this direction. It was great value at $55 (without dessert; we chose to enjoy a delicious ice cream from Messina's instead).
Feast of Merit is set in the sort of inner-city urban street-grunge space that defines so many eateries of this type--distressed brick walls, recycled timber tables, roughly renovated chairs that came from your granny's kitchen. There's serious 'tude in the room, and the staff match the decor perfectly, but not in an unpleasant way. As I said, they may be giga-cool, but they're very good at their jobs.
Enough about the 'tude; what about the food? I must confess that middle-eastern is not my go-to cuisine. There's something about the slightly sour seasoning that I don't really go for: lemon, yoghurt, sumac, and so on; even harissa, which I find less sour, but still not as much to my taste as Asian spice. Now, having said that, Feast of Merit's food is excellent. I would tend to call it Middle Eastern fusion: good Australian ingredients (blue eye, lamb shoulder, Milawa chicken) nicely prepared Middle Eastern style with a restrained and nicely balanced used of spices. We had a banquet at $55. The servings were huge. Our table had a lot of big eaters, and there were ample left-overs, which we were permitted to bag up ourselves and take away. If there is a more absurd law than that preventing restaurants from providing doggy bags, then please let me know what it is.
Highlights for me were the eggplant dip served with excellent zataar bread, the falafel were crisp and delicious, the thin slices of pork belly (more pork loin from my perspective), the lamb shoulder, and the deep fried cauliflower. They may have been my highlights, but all of the dishes were good, and there were no failures, although I find tzaziki a most over-rated and pointless dip.
I probably wouldn't race back there because (a) it's a bit far from home, and (b) I don't rate Middle Eastern food that highly, but if this type of cuisine is your thing, and you're looking for a hearty value for money meal, Feast of Merit ticks a lot of boxes.
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