Saint Malo to open with a focus on feasting in the Mediterranean spirit.

Posted on 13 August, 2022

After two years of finessing every detail of the ambitious three-storey hospitality venture that is Saint Malo, opening day is Wednesday 24 August.

And head chef John Santos and his team have honed a Spanish-influenced feasting menu which promises to draw hungry crowds to the downstairs restaurant section of the development—and which we have enjoyed a sneak peek of.

Octopus, tuna and pizzetta at Saint Malo.

The brainchild of Zoo Bar owner Rulla Bakri—with a heavy dose of interior styling and creative input from Nik Bulum—Saint Malo is a multi-storey restaurant, bar, outdoor garden bar, wedding venue and theatre. It promises to inject a whole new look and feel into the previously windswept walkways around Hobart Place.

With upstairs corporate and private event space “Rito” styled to perfection and already taking a steady stream of bookings, downstairs Saint Malo is ready to welcome patrons from next fortnight, creating share plates and platters which will have your tastebuds transported to a sunny table in San Sebastian in seconds.

There are three paellas to choose from.

And did we mention there is a 70-plus option water list on top of the wine list, cocktail and low and non-alcoholic cocktail list? We told you it was ambitious.

“I see our style of food as feasting-style, which is how the Spanish do it,” said John.

“It’s about breaking down the barriers between entrée, main and dessert, and creating feasts to have conversation and be creative over.”

Croquettes are a must.

The menu starts with small dishes of warmed olives, bandarillas, dips, oysters and fresh-out-of-the-oven garlic and rosemary pizzetta before moving on to charcuterie which is broken down by whether you want your Jamon Iberica de Cabo aged for 24 months, or your Jamon Iberica de Bellota aged for 36.

The famous Spanish staple of croquettes come in a goat’s cheese, honey and almond version, chorizo and Manchego version or pigs head with apple salad and quince.

Head Chef John Santos calls it a feasting menu.

Then it’s time to peruse the paella menu, which includes Canadian scallops, squid ink and saffron aioli, or rabbit with chorizo and morcilla, or the vegetarian option of artichokes, courgettes, piquillo and sea herbs.

Seafood options include platters of Cloudy Bay clams with salsa verde, grilled octopus with black garlic, kipfler potatoes and nduja dressing, and seared yellowfin tuna with carrot escabeche and burnt eggplant puree.

Meat dishes include wagyu beef cheeks with manchego polenta and Pedro Ximenez and smoked duck with pearl couscous and mushroom adobo.

Slow cooked lamb.

Large share platters include the spatchcock with baby carrots, garbanzo and chermoula butter, slow-cooked lamb shoulder with beans, and pork cutlets with Manchego, quail eggs, as well as beef rib eye in a 1.5 kilo tomahawke.

There’s a tonne of sides to accompany all that, a separate cheese menu and then sweet treats in the form of burnt Basque cheesecake, rosquillas, or Spanish donuts, with dulche de leche and chocolate, a Spanish style of blancmange, and a Tocino de Cielo, which is a type of crème Catalan and Chef John’s personal favourite.

With an expansive garden bar, Gardino, as well as two downstairs bars, there is also a strong focus on drinks at Saint Malo.

Two large dining rooms and bars are joined by this breezeway.

Food and beverage director Kingson Joseph has collated a 46-bottle wine list that offers both Spanish labels and Australian wines which specialise in Spanish varieties such as Tempranillo and Grenache. He promises all will be on-premise exclusive labels not available at bottle shops. And for those who are hitting Saint Malo from their offices for an after-work drink and croquette, there will be plenty of options available so they can drive home.

While the cocktail list looks sumptuously Spanish in influence—including the Mula Mediterranean using fig gin, limoncello, homemade ginger syrup, basil leaves and topped up with Mediterranean tonic water, and the Spice Route of house-infused black pepper and coconut gin with port wine, rose water, spice-steeped water and coconut sugar, to name just few—there are also some low-alcohol options.

Upstairs Rito is taking a steady stream of bookings for weddings, functions and corporate events.

These include house-made sangria, a sherry highball with honey syrup, lemon wedges and topped with lemon soda, and a Clara de Limon which is equal parts of Spanish beer and lemon soda served with a lemon slice, among others.

The non-alcoholic list includes an intriguing boiled grape soup which is strained, steeped and served cold, and a sangria version using non-alcoholic wine.

But for those want to stay away from any alcoholic connection whatsoever, how does a 70-option water menu sound?

Yes, Saint Malo will be the first Canberra restaurant to offer a water experience quite like this. From home-steeped and infused water, to bubbled varieties, sodas and tonics, you can probably find what you’re after. The peach, lemon and thyme steeped waters sounds lovely on a hot day while the lavender, vanilla and honey is served warm.

Upstairs function space Rito.

Ginger beer-lover? They got you with nine varieties.

Rulla said the past two years had been a labour of love and bringing Saint Malo to life during a pandemic was not without challenges. But as she looked around the space, she said she was in awe of what had been achieved.

“I wanted to bring to Canberra a place of immediate escape, a place where you walk in and leave your worries behind and a place where everywhere you look you see a tree or a fruit tree or a fountain. I pay tribute to Nik (Bulum) for bringing the vision to life and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the city makes of it when we finally open our doors.”

Food photography by Olivia Leigh