Dawson

241 High St
Kew, VIC 3101
https://www.dawson.restaurant/

I was so excited about Dawson. Not only do they do the delicious puffy bread that I’ve not been able to find anywhere except at Totti’s, I also heard tell from a reputable source that their cotoletta is even better than the legendary one at Totti’s. In fact, I was so excited that I decided that we should do my sister’s mini birthday celebration here (the main event was at Minamishima, which by the way, was even more unbelievably awesome than last time). Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was hella disappointed. The food was all-up mediocre, and the atmosphere was definitely more loud family diner than breezy Italian getaway. Dawson’s is not bad by any means; it’s just rather ordinary.

Rating: 12/20 – victim of my own expectations.
Best bits: the price – we ended up eating for about $40 a head, which is pretty good value for what you get.

The Burrata, Truffle Honey, Black Pepper, Olive Oil, Puffed Flatbread ($24) was an easy win. The oozy cheese, drizzled in sticky, earthy honey was delicious slathered over bread freshly blistered from the oven. It’s one of those tasty starters that feels like it could pull double duty as a dessert cheese. I will however be annoying and say that the bread didn’t have the same depth of flavour and gummy chew as the version at Totti’s.

The Spicy Sopressa Salami ($12) wasn’t anything special, but you do get a satisfyingly large portion for the price.

Similarly, the Mac and Cheese Croquettes ($15, 3pcs) weren’t anything to write home about, but they were tasty little morsels that were indulgent without being too dense.

I liked the slightly unusual offering of Anchovy Crostini ($12, 2pcs), its base of cucumber and good butter reminding me of fancy afternoon tea sandwiches. The only problems were the anchovies themselves; I love anchovies, but these were way too low-quality for there to be two per crostini; I ended up having to peel one off just to make the salt level tolerable.

So, how goes the Chicken Cotoletta ($30), which was supposedly better than Totti’s? In a word: disappointing. The crumbing was tough and crusty, whilst all but the thickest parts of the chicken was dry. And by this point, I was getting rather fed up with the fennel seeds, which had been in about half the dishes so far, and was also impregnated through the batter.

I’d also heard great things about the Casarecce Ragu ($29), which once again was just ok. The sauce was watery in places, and definitely didn’t have the sticky richness you’d expect of an 8-hour slow braise. The topping of dried pecorino was also a bizarre choice that brought the tone of the whole dish down, especially given every other dish so far was topped with freshly grated cheese (especially the salad; wait until you see that). And once again, that omnipresent fennel in the sauce!

The Baby Gem Lettuce, Radicchio, Dijon Vinaigrette, Parmesan ($12) salad was actually my favourite part of the mains – I know, things got a little grim towards the end. The salad was crisp and well-dressed, and although I’m not usually a cheese-on-everything person, I will never say no to a flurry of parmesan on my leaves.