Work The Room

A Carlton local gets a winning revamp with the right team in the right place at the right time.

- Michael Harden

 Nobody’s been clamouring for a broccolini-based spin on the Caesar salad. Tuck into John Paul Twomey’s rejig of the classic though and you’ll wonder why not. Warm broccolini at the base, diced, fried smoked pork belly, aïoli heftily flavoured with Grana Padano, chopped hard-boiled egg and a generous shower of black pepper over the top. It looks great, tastes better and will have you signing on for a return visit before the plate is scraped clean. Welcome to the Carlton Wine Room rebooted. Twomey is a third of a new CWR team that’s like a hospitality version of fantasy football. He was Andrew McConnell’s right-hand man for years and is joined here by Andrew Joy, another McConnell alumnus who won the GT Maître d’ of the Year gong when he ran the floor at Marion. Travis Howe, former Coda and Tonka sommelier, is the third member of the squad. Add the prime location that CWR has always enjoyed in Carlton’s Italian heartland and it was always going to be a safe bet that its latest incarnation wouldn’t suck. There’s always a possibility of hopes being dashed when a line-up looks this solid, but here they’re paid with interest.