Dining / Craving the slow-cooked comfort

WE’VE had a fair few nippy days even though winter has not officially whipped in. That makes me want comfort food. And comfort food makes me crave roasted meat, cooked ever so slowly.

This intense craving has taken me recently to the stylish, slick East Hotel and straight into Ox Eatery. My first time at Ox was in 2013 and I had to say the pork belly with homemade apple sauce and crunchy crackling was tremendous. It was $29 per person then.

Fast forward to today and I’ve just indulged in this dish again ($34 pp). Just as tremendous. And when I say “per person”, these dishes are generous and easily shared between two people.

Ox Eatery’s menu changes regularly and certainly celebrates regional produce and seasonal produce. A big tick for that.

The food is meant to be shared and, no matter where you sit in the restaurant, you’ll see whole chickens and other big chunks of meat being cooked on the large, open French rotisserie, which is a feature of the décor as much as it is a functional piece of kitchen equipment. There’s something mesmerising about watching a rotisserie slowly, slowly turn, cooking meat to perfection. No wonder this ancient style of cooking is still so soul satisfying.

Also on our visit was roast lamb, hummus, parsley and lemon ($36 pp) and roast chicken ($32 pp). We were lucky to be close enough to the open-concept kitchen and able to watch the chef carve up and plate a whole suckling pig, which is a main and permanent feature of the menu. It’s $800 and best serves 12 people (you need three days’ notice minimum). But it is served on a massive wooden board, with apple sauce, crackling, veggies, buckets of fries and green salad. Pigalicious!

Each rotisserie option comes with buttered corn and a fresh green salad (serve has shrunk over the years, at least that was the case on our last two visits). You can also choose a melange of root vegetables (we felt ours was drowning in butter), green beans and other sides ($5 to $16). Our fries were a bit soggy.

Ox Eatery has a fun bar area, including with outdoor space. The wine list is massive, the bar tenders attentive and knowledgeable, and the atmosphere buzzy but relaxed at the same time (is that possible?)

I love the look of the decor – kind of vintage 1950s and the horseshoe-shaped booths are classic. However, once a few diners are tucked in a booth, it’s either cosy or a bit of a squeeze, especially with so many dishes on the table.

Ox Eatery, East Hotel, 69 Canberra Avenue. Call 6178 0041.

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