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It’s the first proper hot day of the year in Melbourne and I’m sitting at The Walrus in St Kilda, named last week as Victoria's Bar of the Year by The Age Good Food Awards. I’m lucky to get a seat at the bar barely 10 minutes after open, and the oyster shucking station is already in the weeds. “There were people waiting outside for us to open,” says co-owner Amy McGouldrick with a nervous chuckle from behind the bar as she directs traffic and pours drinks for an endless flow of dockets.
But despite the flurry of activity behind the bar, this place is a super chill way to spend a Sunday arvo, the small room lively but relaxed as couples and groups of friends enjoy seafood towers and their signature Espresso Martini with pedro ximénez. I settle in with the No. 2 from their list of unnamed cocktails; a bittersweet mezcal number with Campari, grapefruit, and rimmed with smoked salt. It’s a perfect antidote to the dry, hot wind blowing down Inkerman Street today, and goes beautifully with my Wapengo oysters, fresh and lively and served ice cold.
Other snacks on offer include a scallop party pie, its flaky pastry encasing the ocean funk of shellfish in creamy bechamel, richness balanced by a squeeze of house made hot sauce. It’s fun and silly and delicious in a way that exemplifies the desire of today’s hospo operators — even the ones who can talk premier cru Chablis and smash out five-star food — not to take themselves too seriously.
“From the beginning, we wanted to take the idea of the traditional champagne and oyster bar and make it accessible,” Amy says. “Marty [Webster, Amy’s business partner] loved the little hole-in-the-wall oyster places he frequented during his time in Paris, but we wanted to do that in a way that felt open to everyone. So we choose great wines with similar characteristics to the European classics but that are different and affordable,” she says.