13 May Cumulus Inc., Melbourne CBD Take 2

We came to Cumulus Inc. for a belated Mother’s Day celebration. I’ve previously been here for breakfast, but I was excited to sample their dinner offerings. Knowing they didn’t take bookings for groups of less than seven people, we made a point of arriving early. Coming in at around 6:15pm, we managed to nab the last table for 5.

There were two impressive varieties of bread – sourdough multigrain and lighter bread with an almost cake-like consistency and a crispy, slightly salted crust.

We started off with the daily soup special, which was artichoke soup with fried shallots, and some baked chilli mussels. Mum actually wanted to get the pig’s head croquettes but unfortunately they were unavailable. The artichoke soup was mum’s favourite of the night. It was smooth, creamy and tasty and the fried shallots floating on top were a great addition. The mussels were also very good. They seemed to have been paired with a tomato-based paste with a slight bitterness (maybe fennel seed?) and lovely crumb.

I noticed many tables ordered Cumulus Inc.’s famous lamb shoulder together with an entree and/or salad. Our table was no different, going for the lamb plus the cracked wheat & freekeh salad. As for the other mains, we ordered corn-fed chicken and Cape Grim sirloin steak. The steak and chicken were handled very well. The sweet chicken was served on a bed of puffed rice, pearl barley, sorrel, shallots, avocado puree and bits of crispy chicken skin. Although the chicken was nice, I enjoyed the mixture underneath even better – there were so many different textures and flavours from the different ingredients in it (including the charred puffed rice).

Finally, the whole slow roast lamb shoulder arrived at the table with the salad. There was a small plate of red onions with sumac and two lemon cheeks to eat with the lamb. The lamb was pull-apart tender and tasted wonderful together with squeezes of lemon and the salad, especially with the dollops of labne. At some stage we were given a second plate of bread, which was great for soaking up the lamb juices.

Everyone left very happy and satisfied and it only came to about $36 per person, which was well worth it.

Cumulus Inc.
45 Flinders Lane
Melbourne, VIC, 3000
(03) 9650 1445
http://cumulusinc.com.au/