It's Italian Film festival time and my friend Clare proposed going to see something with a lunch beforehand. I, of course, agreed and so we entered into the usual lengthy negotiations re date, which film, where to meet, where to eat. We exchanged many emails, with Clare quite rightly saying near the end, that we would have done better to just phone each other. Indeed.
The whole process also reflects what privileged lives we live - so much choice - with little or no thought about cost - although I will come to that.
As you can see from the photos above the film we eventually chose was A World Apart, directed by Riccardo Milani. Selected more for the date and the timing - our other three choices were equally attractive possibilities in their different ways. But I am leaping forward a little too much. Suffice to say the film was at 3.30 and so we agreed to meet at 1.30 which would give us plenty of time to explore food possibilities.
Being ignorant of what goes on in the trendy food scene of Melbourne, I was unaware of the recent (20th September) opening of Il Mercato Centrale at the Southern Cross end of Collins Street. A street that starts out with offices and hotels and ends near the Old Treasury building with international designer label shops which seem to only have one or two items for sale, judging from what's on display in the window and what you can see in the shop. And they're priceless too. We call it the Paris End of Collins Street. More hotels as well - top end ones.
Apologies I digress again. Clare had heard of Il Mercato Centrale - the first overseas opening of a very successful brand of four mercati in Italy - the first in Florence, shown here - a much larger affair and much more like an indoor market. Broadsheet describes it as: "a brand of fancy, bustling, artisan-led Italian food halls." The other Italian mercati - in Rome, Turin and Milan are equally large and open. The aim for the founder Umberto Montano was to:
"bring(s) the focus back to what truly matters in such a multifaceted activity: the human element, the ‘artisan’, and their ability to interpret their craft with one clear outcome – good food. And also to be "a vibrant space where people gather, engage and share experiences, much like the beloved tradition of the piazza in Italy.”
I suspect that the Melbourne owner Eddie Muto had seen one in Italy and negotiated with the Italian company to bring the concept here. Whatever the reason, here it is and two years later than its proposed completion date of 2022 it's open to all. A friend of Clare had visited and been less than complimentary, but we still decided to give it the once-over. Below some pictures which I hope give an impression of the place:
As you can see from the decor it's style is grunge/industrial chic. Apparently the industrial chic vibe is due to the former history of the art deco building as a hardware store. Small stalls selling those artisan goods line the walls, over three storeys, with seating spaces tucked away in corners and also in the centre. The more empty-loooking space upstairs was for the restaurant.
We found it noisy. Others would say it was buzzy and/or vibrant. As to the food, well it mostly looked pretty good I guess - the artisan bread by the door looked like the real deal - at artisan prices. The pizza looked good from a distance - but the 'crafty' looking pizza oven was not wood-fired, although the pizza maker was appropriately trendy in that he was heavily covered in tattoos from arms to neck - although the ingredients waiting to be put on to the pizzas, did not look any more artisan than anything you would find in your local Nandos or Pizza Hut.
The prices however were hefty. I have since read, for example, that you can get a Floretine steak for $135 approximately - depending on the size. And the restaurant prices were definitely in the pricey range - and not very tempting either - just one pasta dish - with squid ink. Paninis were nearly $30.00. I doubt you would spend that if you were an office worker.
Mostly, however, you buy from QR codes and suchlike, which I always find enormously daunting - but then I am very old - and you have to pay with a card - no cash allowed. You sit at those tables - if you can find one free and apparently eat from paper plates, using bamboo cutlery with paper cups for your coffee. Sustainable yes - if disposed of properly - but not appropriate for something upmarket.
Reddit of course had a field day, pointing out that many negative reviews on the website had been removed. "It’s a canteen with expensive food and uncomfortable seating with a shitty service" said Background_Pop7936. And Om nom nom said:
"Jeez, four years of waiting for that. A nice range of Italian eateries charging restaurant prices to eat on paper plates. ... Zero queue management leading to overcrowding, and poor ventilation meaning the whole place reeked of burnt oil - just a glorified food court"
And yet all the publications like Broadsheet, and The Age, delicious. ... either don't really comment, or emphasise the artisan nature of the whole thing - as in delicious.:
"il Mercato Centrale is sort of like the food court of your dreams, where you can buy items from artisan producers, passionate growers, and some of the world’s best artists."
They may have actually been talking about the original Italian concept, and yes, there do seem to be real 'artisan' people there but there's not really a lot to choose from.
Anyway we did not stay and try, but walked a bit along Collins Street, and then hopped on a tram to go up the hill to the cinema - also in a kind of court full of shops based around the Sofitel and ANZ headquarters. Where there was a perfectly OK café/restaurant more reasonably priced - Dame - in a much airier setting, with food on real plates with real knives and forks. Not that the food was overwhelmingly good, but it was definitely acceptable and you could sit for an hour or so and watch the world go by with no pressure to move on. And catch up with your friend.
The film. In more or less the opposite of Il Mercato Centrale and the 'official' critics, this is a film which I'm guessing some of the more snobby critics would tear to pieces. Well it's cute, it's funny, it's - that awful phrase - heart-warming. The odd tear may come to your eye. Yes it's manipulative - glorious scenery, cute children, endangered but beautiful wildlife, endearingly quirky characters but it manipulates you so successfully that you become completely captivated. So many problems seem to be solved in simple ways. IMDB only gave it a score of 6.5 and yet it is apparently the biggest box-office success in Italy this year so far. The people have spoken - as they did on reddit.
Let me add that the film was set in Abruzzo - mostly in a very snowy winter, in a very tiny village under threat of being abandoned. In 2016 we holidayed in Abruzzo for a week with friends in a villa with a view - as seen here. Abruzzo is, I believe, almost 2/3 national park. It is stunningly beautiful, but the tourist population is very small. At least that's the way it seemed to us. And so it is poor - no major industry and no major cultural sites - although of course there are some. Just gorgeous scenery and lovely people. And great food - see the plate of locally made charcuterie and cheese we were offered on arrival and the pizza we ate at a local pizzeria - accompanied by our villa's local manager who took it upon himself to guide us there, up hill and down dale.
This was our village - perched on a hill, opposite a range of mountains that housed a seemingly endless line of wind turbines. And this was not part of the National Park - too cultivated I suppose. It was summer of course when we were there, but we were told that in the winter the village was sometimes completely cut off. And in that view above from our villa - if you click on it you may see two or three other tiny villages perched on hilltops, on ridges and it slight hollows in the land. As was the village in the film. So perhaps it was our own privileged holiday experience that heightened the impact of the film for me.
It will be interesting to see if Il Mercato Centrale is a success. I had not realised that it was still in its infancy as it were. Those overwhelmingly negative reddit commentators - and yes they have a tendency to be negative about everything - seemed to think that it would slowly die. Word would get out that it was awful, so the 'artisans' would leave, and so would the customers. Mind you there were a few who worked in that area that did say that it would fill a gap at that end of town for office lunches. Really? At the prices they charged. There are better and cheaper places nearby surely - even in the nearby Southern Cross station - I had a pretty OK hamburger there once.
It is also interesting to see the disconnect between the 'expert' opinions and those of the unwashed public - even those of elderly - sorry Clare - suburban ladies.
Tomorrow we are dining in a very trendy small Spanish tapas bar in our own suburb. I wonder how that will turn out.
POSTSCRIPT
October 1 - a new month - only three more to go before a new year.
2022 - Nibbles
2021 - Feasts on platters
2020 - A plate of meaty things
2019 - Nothing
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Buttermilk - not that simple
2016 - Footy fever
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