The European: No Trash in Sight

I could have easily been cosily seated in any tapas bar or restaurant in Madrid on a winter night, but I wasn't. In fact, I didn't even have to leave Melbourne to experience a bit of Europe. I'm not talking Gross Florentino or Vue du Monde -- I'm talking about the European.

Tucked away on Spring street just around the corner from Bourke street you'll find a neat little euro-style bistro called the European. The interior is designed like most domestic kitchens you'll find in most apartments across Spain: long and narrow. As soon as we were all seated and chose a glass of wine -- I decided on a red blend from France -- our crisp linen serviettes were snapped open and laid on our laps in the most fashionably un-intrusive manner one could imagine. Being a European bistro and all I wasn't expecting much to be vegetarian, which there wasn't, but I decided upon the only thing I could short of a salad. I happily ordered the "rotolo of beetroot, pine nuts and goat's cheese". At last, a main without mushrooms! While we waited for our order, four serves of fresh sourdough bread and aioli were delivered to our table to share while we chatted. We ordered a serve of pomme frittes to share, which were perfectly tiny julienne strips of potato. They weren't french fries or chips, they were proper pomme frittes.

When my rotolo came, it was immediate eye candy, even in the dimly lit dinning room. It was a roulade of sorts with a thin, almost strudel-like pastry crust wrapped around rolled layers of goats' cheese, toasted pine nuts, beetroot puree, its leaves blanched to perfection and --guess what-- tiny morsels of an unidentifiable type of mushroom. It was garnished with a lovely herb butter sauce and delicate sprouts. I enjoyed every bit of it and ate the the mushrooms because a)they didn't taste half bad drenched in butter and b)I wasn't paying for my meal with my pocket money.

We finished off the meal with two desserts to share, which were a proper Tiramasu with coffee scented macaroons and a chocolate tart with a serve of curiously orange-flavoured ice cream. A piece of heaven in every bit, really.

One fourth of an entree of pommes frittes to share, a vegetarian main, a glass of wine and half of a dessert came to a total of $40. Not bad considering the service was impeccable, the vegetarian main showed some imagination on the chef's part and the wine list was impressively long and full of wines from every corner of Europe. Not bad, at all on a student budget. I'll be anxiously awaiting my next chance to eat beetroot.

161 Spring St
Melbourne 3000 VIC

Phone: (03) 9654 0811