La Luna Bistro, Carlton

 
For Tim's birthday, I took him to La Luna Bistro, in Carlton.  La Luna is the restaurant owned by Adrian Richardson, of Good Chef, Bad Chef fame (yes, Adrian is the "bad" chef).

 
In case you can't guess from the décor, La Luna specialises in meat dishes.  The only vegetarian dishes here are the sides.  Gathering from what other people were ordering, we figured that the steaks must be the most popular item, but wow, they were huge steaks.

La Luna does two sittings each night - a 6pm sitting and an 8.15pm sitting.  We took the 6pm sitting as we'd be starving by 8.15pm, and figured if we didn't get to dessert by then, we could go somewhere else in Carlton.

Our series of black-bedecked waiters were very friendly and we did not want for anything.    If you are trying to run two sittings like clockwork, this is a good thing.

For entrée, I ordered one of the daily specials, a kingfish ceviche ($21.50):

 
I ordered this because I knew it would be fairly light (leaving room for more!), and I enjoyed its clean, fresh flavours.

Tim ordered another daily special as his starter, a barbecue pork rib ($10.50):  

 
Tim loved this, as the meat was melting off the bone and covered in spicy sauce.  I got a sneaky taste of this and also thought it was good.  The sauce was definitely on the hotter side, as Tim's head started to sweat (a sure sign that what he is eating is hot).

For main, I went for the slow cooked goat with beans, spinach and carrots ($41.50):

 
I chose the goat because I have never had it before and it is not common on restaurant menus here.  The goat was moist and soft, and melted off the bones.  The rich tomato based sauce complemented the meat and vegetables well, and was perfect for mopping up with the bread that we received.

Tim ordered the roast pork with crackling ($21.50):

 
He was also very happy with his choice.  I quite enjoyed the crispy crackling.  Again, this dish comes with a sauce that just begs to be mopped up with bread.

In our absent mindedness, we forgot to order the side dishes that we chose, but it didn't matter - we were very full with what we had.

For dessert, Tim ordered tiramisu (Adrian's classic ($18.50):

 
H enjoyed it, and I also enjoyed the morsel that I tasted.

I went for the chocolate pudding with vanilla icecream and honeycomb ($18.50):

 
Let's be honest - the overwhelming star of this dish was the gooey chocolate pudding:

 
The vanilla icecream and honeycomb (which was no more than a few smears of toffee on the plate) were bit players.  And yes, this pudding tasted as sensational as it looks.

To drink, we started off with a couple of glasses of prosecco ($11.50), followed by a beer for Tim and a cider for me ($8.50 each), and finished off with coffees ($3.50): 

We enjoyed our La Luna experience and would definitely go back.

La Luna Bistro

320 Rathdowne St

Carlton North VIC 3054
Ph: (03) 9349 4888