Don’t give up if you’re finding it difficult to get a table at Navi. Once you’ve scored a booking, you’re in for a first-rate culinary adventure that’s both rare and engaging – all while being joyously laidback.
Before dinner, our group of four begin with a few drinks in the adjoining cocktail bar Navi Lounge (hot tip: this intimate spot accepts a small number of walk-ins, and you can sample Navi’s genius via snacks for as low as $7 a pop). The service both here and in the restaurant is warm and serene, and after a non-alcoholic lavender and cherry ‘No-groni that’s good enough to make me shun liquor for the rest of the night, we’re led into a space that feels more like a cosy lounge room than a fancy fine diner.
But having heard extensively about Navi, we sit a little closer to the edge of our seats. We suspect a good deal of magic is coming our way – and we’re right. Take the very first snack, for instance: a perfectly formed, concrete-hued macaron. A dessert for starters? No, it’s a wildcard flavour explosion of fermented black garlic and salmon roe. The allium’s caramelised earthiness plays well with the fresh, vibrant roe in this chewy biscuit form.
The following snacks are small aesthetic parcels of ingenious flavour: the juicy leaf of a succulent plant (bower spinach) chauffeurs smoked eel, native thyme and apple gel into our mouths. A leathery curl of smoked carrot sings with the brightness of kombucha and nutty yeast. Our table is particularly in awe over a puffed beef tendon that’s wearing a strip of cured emu like an elegant cloak. Sauced with a rich egg yolk and bread emulsion, it curiously carries the spirit of the crispy bacon flavour of pot noodles I loved as a child growing up in Scotland. What a delight! And a first for me, too, trying emu.
Navi is referred to on the website as head chef and owner Julian Hills’ ‘dream’ and you can taste how much heart he’s poured into it – from the use of native seasonal produce (which Hill learnt about directly from Indigenous foragers) to his ongoing relationships with sustainable and ethical farmers. There’s no doubt this restaurant is at the pinnacle of Melbourne’s growing conscious dining scene.
That’s not to say the degustation isn’t without a hump. There’s a small dish I’m not over the moon about and it’s the only one of the night to leave me a little underwhelmed: abalone and sea capers perched on a brittle cracker. It’s possible I’m simply not a huge fan of the chewy abalone (weird for a food writer, I know – I’m working on it), but I also find the grainy taste of its resting disc a little bitter and overpowering.
However, every other aspect of the set menu lives in flawless territory. We’re soaring again with a mud crab chawanmushi (Japanese savoury egg custard.) Now I’m a bit of a chawanmushi devotee as of late – it’s very good at Bansho, Yakikami and Shusai Mijo – but the complex and buttery preparation at Navi is the best I’ve tried yet, thanks to the clever additions of Earl Grey and bunya nut miso.
Another highlight of the degustation is the Murray cod. One of the most beautifully cooked fish dishes I’ve tried in a long time, it’s served with a creamy delicate sauce that eludes me now (a great dish can do that to your memory, sometimes). And so the rest of the evening’s hits go on. We’re enchanted by swirls of pumpkin with pickled rose petals; dazzled by Tasmanian southern rock lobster with celeriac and salted grapes; and near-giddy over a sweet and tender kangaroo tail that dances with flavours of koji, tamarillo and wattleseed.
In short, we’re wowed by how lovely it all is. And if you’re worried you’ll be left hungry after all these delicate and small-ish plates, you needn’t be. The last savoury dish of the evening, a Macedon Ranges duck served with a velvety parsnip puree, is rich and sumptuous enough to almost make you worry about managing dessert.
And what will that be? Well, we’ll leave it as a surprise. After all, so much of Navi’s appeal lies in its playfulness, its willingness to flirt with the unexpected and elevate simple produce to unforgettable heights. Go in with an open heart and an open mind, and you’ll leave with no doubt at all as to why Navi is so popular right now.
Time Out Melbourne never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique.