Rita Erlich

‘3 Hats Porch Thoughts’

In the 1980s we were smoking cigarettes and cigars in Melbourne restaurants, avocados appeared on menus, handwritten menus saved printing costs and restaurants introduced fixed-priced meals to ensure a minimum spend.

Former co-editor of The Age Good Food Guide for 15 years, food writer and author, including cookbooks as well as interviews with chefs and restaurateurs, Rita Erlich, certainly knows her onions about the revolution in Melbourne’s restaurant world.

In her latest book Melbourne by Menu (which would never have eventuated should she had been tidier or listened to the de-cluttering people around her), Rita traces our dining history through the stories of around 250 restaurant menus she collected during the remarkable decade that she watched transform our tastes, the way we eat, drink and think about food in Melbourne today.

Rita has cleverly charted Melbourne’s restaurant scene through her personal behind-the-scenes ‘Then and Now’ look into Melbourne’s iconic restaurants, industry movers and shakers, renowned chefs, menus and recipes during the decade when Victorians still travelled to New South Wales to play the pokies.

I enjoyed brunch with Rita on her favourite coffee porch, Café Ora in Kew, where she expressed her gratitude that her menu collection is homed in the Victorian State Library and among many other gastronomic topics, told me which three chefs she would invite to cook a special three course meal.

When did your interest in food begin?

Within my family. As a child I was an extraordinarily fussy eater. I didn’t eat any cooked vegetables until I was 18. I am living proof that you can be a fussy eater and when your taste-buds change, you can enjoy all food.

You wrote your first restaurant review for The Age in 1980, what was the restaurant and how did the review fair?

It was called Bar Biffi, owned by the late Rick Davis. Rick grew into one of the really good ‘ideas people’ and created a lot of stunning restaurant designs. He was one of the founders in the restaurant Italy 1. He had also redone the fit-out at Bottega in Bourke Street. I came across that first review. The food was terrific but the service was really sloppy.

Claude Forell asked you to join him in editing The Age Good Food Guide in 1983, what was it like working with him?

Claude was absolutely brilliant to work with. We worked very closely together with complete respect and trust for one another. We talked constantly about which restaurants we were reviewing. There was never a second where I questioned or didn’t trust his judgement.

As reviewers, you and Claude both introduced yourselves after paying the bill and collecting the menus. What were some memorable reactions from owners you recall?

My favourite of all time was when a restaurant owner told me I had changed my hair colour. I told him I hadn’t but he insisted that I had, telling me I used to be brunette. He took me in to the kitchen and showed me a picture of a complete stranger.

How do you feel having your menus now part of a collection at the State Library of Victoria?

I am thrilled to pieces. The menus needed a home, and a really good home. They draw an extraordinary picture of the culinary history of Victoria.

Why do you consider the 80s to be the most remarkable decade in Melbourne’s dining history?

It was the time of greatest growth and change. In the early 80s, we moved from very strict control of licencing laws to being able to have a glass of wine in a café. We moved from French food being formal food to less formality. Asian cooking was appearing more. We advanced in technology. In the early 80s, it was relatively easy for people to open small restaurants because someone had told them they cooked well. They didn’t tend to last long or they quickly turned professional.

Were diners restricted by food choice in the 80s and 90s?

We ate differently. Shared plates didn’t much happen and depending where you were in the 80s, there wasn’t much Asian influence in non-Asian restaurants. Nobody had heard of ‘Tapas’. Eating has become far less formal. Ingredients were different too but there was as much foraging going on then as there is now, but nobody talked about it. I remember eating morel mushrooms. Nobody grows these, they are found in the wild. Somebody was finding them in the wild.

When presented with a menu, what do you look for first?

I approach every menu as a diner. I have always thought a menu is an invitation to eat. I look at a menu and ask, ‘what are they offering me and what do I want to eat?’ I look at the presentation and how it is divided up. The menu immediately tells me if the restaurant is a bistro, traditional or modern. I note spelling mistakes, which can be fun. My favourite was ‘shoe pastry’.

What food descriptions on menus generally made your eyes roll?

I don’t like adverbs and adjectives worried me. I didn’t like purple prose in menus or foods that were nestled, framed or lovingly cooked.

What from the 80s did we have back then in restaurants, that we don’t have now, but you think we should?

I would love to see affordable crayfish. I don’t want see smoking in restaurants again. I don’t need to see dances again. I wouldn’t mind a few more BYO restaurants.

How did you deal with negative comments about your negative reviews?

I firstly listened to the complaints and dealt with them by being able to back-up with what I had found wanting. There was one place that really took on board my complaints. 15 years after my review, the owner told me that at the time, ‘I could have cheerfully killed you’. He said it took him 3 weeks to calm down and after he had addressed my issues, he turned his business around.

If you could have any three chefs cook you an entrée, main and dessert, who would it be and what would they cook?

Entrée, Guy Grossi’s (Florentino) nettle tortellini filled with crayfish. Main, Anthony Lui’s (Flower Drum) Squab with something fresh and green. Dessert, I would enjoy anything Philippa Silbey wanted to do because she is the best pastry-hand in Melbourne (Albert Street Food Store). Beverage wise, I would enjoy a glass of champagne when I sat down. A cool climate Chardonnay with Guy’s Tortellini (Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula), a Pinot (Burgundy, New Zealand or Yarra Valley) with the Anthony’s Squab and I would rest for dessert. If I wasn’t thinking of my liver, I would enjoy a glass of Campbell’s rare Muscat (and taxi home).

What is your Porch Thought of The Day?

“In my heart, I am at home with 8-10 people at the table.”