Last week I caught a whiff of the mood aboard the Titanic when the diners partied on as an iceberg rent a thirty foot gash in her side. As Victoria rolled inevitably forward into its fourth full lockdown from midnight Thursday, I had the privilege of recording the work of an amazing group of professionals as they prepared a dinner at The Florentino Restaurant in Bourke Street, 93 years after the first meal was served on the premises.
Over the Grossi’s twenty year custodianship, The Florentino has consistently been one of the top dining experiences in Melbourne. And last Thursday night was no exception. If Florentino’s is an aristocrat amongst restaurants, then the truffle is surely an aristocrat amongst ingredients. This dinner was designed by Guy and his team to celebrate the qualities of this strange little fungi. It seemed slightly incongruous to be witnessing the creation of these exquisite dishes as Melbourne plunged headlong into at least a week of take away and home cooked meals….
But perhaps more poignantly, I became aware of what a “circuit breaker” lockdown means to businesses such as this. It’s not just an inconvenience. It’s a hammer blow to the owners, the staff and their suppliers. A fine dining restaurant is not something you can turn on and off with the flick of a switch. I hate the fact that we have Covid back in our community. The disappointment I feel due to cancellations and rearrangements to my life is minor… but real. And yet at some stage we are going to have to learn to live with Covid rather than without it. I’m not sure how we are going to do that… but I’m fairly sure the first step is to queue up for a jab.
