The defining Melbourne wine bar.
Despite its sophisticated tastes, Embla is always down to earth. Sure, the wine selection and some of the menu ingredients might seem a little out-there, but don’t worry. The staff here are absolute pros and, after a quick chat to gauge your appetites, they’ll happily recommend the perfect combo of food and wine.
For all its fashion-forwardness, at Embla you can still get a nice glass of local pinot or chardonnay, alongside edgier European wines and classics from Burgundy. The trick is to order by the glass, tasting your way through a world of possibility.
There’s always more than a dozen wines served that way, from Rutherglen’s Fallen Quinces vermouth to a lively Ployez-Jacquemart Champagne or a Californian merlot from the Sierra Foothills. (Next week, naturally, there’ll be an entirely different selection on offer.)
The user-friendly list arranges offerings by character, from reds with ‘soft power and spice’ to ‘orange, oxidised or otherwise weird, on purpose’. Mostly local and low-intervention, alongside some Old World prestige, and all of it artisan.
“Our leaning is French, mostly because that’s what we personally like the most,” McCabe says. “But we also love the access we have to buy wines direct from the locals, and are always on the lookout for someone trying to do things the right way, farm well, and make interesting and unique expressions.”
Embla’s lo-fi approach to wines extends to its kitchen, with a no-nonsense wood oven and flame grill. Anything not touched by fire is served raw, such as snapper carpaccio with cime di rapa (aka turnip greens) and orange, and beef with ’nduja (the spicy, spreadable pork sausage from southern Italy) and quinoa. Start with bread – it’s a must here. Embla’s wood oven bakes some of Australia’s best restaurant loaves. With crunchy baked crusts and chewy crumb, smeared with burnt onion butter or dragged through whipped ’nduja, it’s more of a main event than a meal accessory. Menus change seasonally but there’s usually a charry octopus straight from the grill, a superb piece of fish cooked and served with care, and a couple of plates that elevate seasonal produce to hero status. And the half roast chicken with sauce ‘vin John’ is one of Melbourne’s tastiest birds. If there’s one match that sums up the spirit of Embla, perhaps it would be the Provençal-style chickpea pancake showered in shaved Comté cheese, with a rosé from the same sunny region of France. |
