Hunters & Disciples, West Melbourne by Foghorn Leghorn

I’m a long term fan of Southbank restaurant Tutto Bene, so I was pretty keen when I heard that their former chef Nathan Scarfo has opened up a café in West Melbourne. What’s more, it was a trip to the old neighbourhood, because I lived in West Melbourne for a couple of years in the early 1980s.

The café, Hunters & Disciples, is in a courtyard off Spencer Street. My recollection is that this was a truck depot, and the drivers used to drink at my local, the Moomba Hotel (now a backpacker place). The renovated café space is cool and funky industrial: polished concrete, exposed ducts and cables, with a spacious feeling that comes from the high ceilings of the original building. There’s background music at just the right volume.


Charcuterie board

The menu is café style, mainly muesli, eggs, toast and a few other odds and ends. There’s a specials board with pasta, soup and pizza. The café is still waiting for its liquor licence, so drinks are limited to non-alcoholic.

After a bit of discussion, I went for the spinach and ricotta gnocchi (from the specials board), and Tam O’Shanter chose the Hunter Burger. There’s also a breakfast burger on the menu, but hard experience has taught us to avoid anything with this description. One thing a breakfast burger doesn’t contain is a burger. There should be a law against it, but there isn’t yet.

As our food arrived, Nathan Scarfo came to say hello. He’s a bit calmer than I remember him from Tutto Bene – previously when I tried to photograph him it was very difficult, because he never stood still. Now he’s in a slightly different mode, running a café staffed by catering students. His take-away is that the students are good fun, and there’s less pressure than running a fine-dining restaurant seven nights a week.


The gnocchi were fresh and reasonably fluffy, but the portion was small for me. In fact, small portions are the main reason I rarely eat in cafes. Recently I had lunch at a swish new café in Lygon Street and ended up buying a second lunch at the nearby Student Union.


The hamburger, though, was the full deal. It’s made from Cape Grim beef, which is what I buy when I want the best steak. It’s grass-fed, giving it a more distinctive taste than the grain-fed equivalent. This particular burger was still pink inside, so it retained the full flavour. The accompanying chips were sprinkled with a touch of seaweed. On reflection, if I had to choose again, I would definitely choose the burger.

To stave off hunger pangs, I ordered a charcuterie board (see first pic). This turned out to be a feast of different savoury flavours, with various pickles, cured meats, cheese and garlic toast. A glass of red wine would have been the perfect accompaniment.

Verdict

We loved it.

Cheap eats.

Overall

Overall, it was a very pleasant visit. As mentioned, the staff are all students. Sometimes they’re a bit uncertain of what they’re doing, but their breezy manner more than makes up for it. The café seems to be a hangout for students between classes, so overall it’s a young crowd.

There are some small downsides. The café is a bit hard to find. Fortunately I came on foot, so I saw the small sign by the entrance – if you were driving past you could miss it. The menu is in small print. That’s not a problem for students, of course, but the way to flatter older customers is to give them a menu with large print, so they think their eyesight is still good.

I will definitely drop in to Hunters & Disciples the next time I’m in the neighbourhood, and I’ll definitely try the Hunter Burger. Pricing is good, too, with both the burger and the gnocchi at $14.

The Eat and Be Merry Crew were guests of Hunters & Disciples.

Find it at

Hunters & Disciples
39/617 Spencer Street
West Melbourne VIC 3003
Phone: 1300 555 749