"I like my town with a little drop of poison" Tom Waits
It's a curious name for a place to eat and drink isn't it? I mean - 'poison'. Shouldn't that be a turnoff? Who wants to be poisoned? And yet it's also curiously apposite for this tiny little tapas bar in a fairly dingy lane between the main road in outer suburban Eltham and the station car park and the railway beyond. I feature this particular photograph because I actually think it sort of sums up the ethos. It's a gin spritzer of some kind apparently. But it looks gorgeous and also a tiny bit sinful, even excessive. Poisonous though?
The other thing about the name Little Drop of Poison is that it wasn't chosen by the current owner Geo Tapia who is Chilean by birth. In 2015 an earlier iteration of this little bar was opened but as more of a café, coffee and cake sort of place it seems. Definitely more generally European. Geo took the place over in 2018 and turned it into a tapas bar - but it's not just Spanish food that is served, it's Latin American as well - from Mexico to Chile.
Why am I talking about it? Well last night we dined there with friends who had suggested the venue. Now they live far away near Monash University, but they knew of it. My daughter-in-law had actually mentioned it to me and warned me to book well in advance because it was always full. Which actually turned out to be not the case on our chosen night, which was fortunate for two reasons.
The first was that our poor guests had an argument with a ditch on their way to us and so we were delayed in getting to our 6.00 date with drops of poison. It was 6.00 because there were two hour slots, and my daughter-in-law - who had dined there a week or so ago warned us that they were keen to get us out on time. So it was actually fortunate that they had no bookings for the one larger table in the place - well inside - and were in no hurry to get us out. Nevertheless I had made a cake, thinking that we could have dessert and coffee back at our place. There was in fact no need to do this - we could have tried their basque cheesecake. So maybe another time. Because I sincerely hope there will be another time.
I have lived in Eltham now since 1985 but I did not know of this place. Well I had never had cause to travel down that laneway, nor to the shops beside it on that strip of the main road. And here's a rather sad little aside. The main road - the town high street if you like - is becoming increasingly empty. Behind the main street are the three big supermarkets, a town square and lots of shops, so that the main road has become less and less frequented. The book shop that had been there for years and years, has relocated because of this.
But back to the restaurant and that name. It comes from a song by Tom Waits, which is rather depressing. The other line in the song with those words is:
"She left in the fall that's her picture on the wall
She always had that little drop of poison"
These are some of the pictures on the wall, although I gather that some of them change all the time - Geo's partner Deb curates them. And some are for sale. In the words of Geo:
“The artwork makes our space feel alive, giving it warmth, creating conversation and a chilled-out atmosphere. The wall art also distinguishes our little bar from other places giving us our own special identity."
It is tiny. Which is deliberate on the owner's part:
“The venue concept I’ve had in my head for quite a long time. In my personal opinion, through the evolution of hospitality, I felt there was a disconnection with customers which developed over a long period of time. As venues got bigger I felt when I opened my own place I needed to bring that connection between hosts and customers closer. My time in tapas and pintxo bars in Spain and the Basque country demonstrated how amazing the energy was in a smaller space as conversation and banter flowed between both sides of the bar. This synergy is created with the right style of shared food and the appropriate drops to accompany these dishes.” Geo Tapia/Bartender
So you can sit at the bar, or at small two-seater tables beside the windows, the one big table, or on the outside deck or the alley itself. Not good enough weather for that as yet though. There were just three staff - Geo who does the drinks, James Karaoulis who is the chef - I think, although this may be out of date, and I confess I didn't venture into the main bar part of the place, but was dimly aware that there were three staff there.
The third was the lovely waitress who was super friendly, super efficient and the one who took the photo of us. David charmed her into posing for us. He was at one end of the restaurant - and you can see the other end behind her. The bar is just out of sight on the left, but I'm sure you can imagine its size. Tiny. But good things come in small packages. Something small children don't agree with - they like their presents big.
So what about the food - and the drink? Well we didn't indulge in cocktails, which is apparently one of this place's main drawcards.
"The cocktails list, each thoughtfully crafted has plenty of variety to satisfy, and if not a chat with the ever charismatic Geo will have him making something from scratch to match what youre feeling" Cara Devine/Bartender
The wine we chose was a white wine, whose name we did not recognize and which I now can't remember either - delicious though.
As to the food - well some pictures below - from their website. I completely forgot to take any photos - I was having such a good time - Croquetas, a Moroccan kind of cauliflower dish, taco crudo and anchovy toasts. The white wine in the picture may have been the one we had. Maybe the cauliflower was a tiny bit too salty, but otherwise I could not fault anything, and would love to have tried just about everything on the menu - which changes all the time.
This place has been here for six years now and I didn't know it was there. Which shows how little I venture away from the places I know - and how infrequently we go out. It just reiterates however, that post I wrote a while back about how great places to eat and drink in the outer suburbs are rarely visited or written about by trendy food critics. They, like I, should get out more. The website says:
"Little Drop of Poison has been described as a cross between a little bar from Fitzroy spiked with a true sense of Spanish culture, but we like to think of ourselves as Eltham’s little local…"
So I am so pleased to discover that the more adventurous and enquiring amongst us do know of it and do visit it. I'll take their word for the fact that it is always busy. Last night it was fairly busy but not full. I do hope that we get to go there again - maybe with our two boys who would appreciate it I think. And the Age's restaurant critic Dani Valent did visit and did praise it. Well done Dani:
"The food and drink are good but Little Drop of Poison really excels at the feeling. That glow you see as you walk down the alley isn’t just light. It’s heart and soul on the plate and in the glass." Dani Valent.
Thank you Jenny for suggesting it.
POSTSCRIPT
October 3
2022 - Morello cherries
2021 - Worrying about aioli
2018 - Beauty = joy
2017 - Shakshuka or Chakchuka?
A rare full house. And as a kind of homage to 2018's post which featured a photo of beautiful white weeds, today on my walk back for the shop, as I struggled up a hill and took a rest I decided to see if I could take 5 semi-interesting photographs from that one spot - sitting on a railway sleeper wall in a suburban street. Here is what I found:
The last is pure joy.
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