Ember & Ash — Wood-Fired Restaurant, Carlton North

Dinner

To start

Bread from the hearth$9

Baked to order in the mouth of the oven, cultured butter, sea salt.

Wood-fired flatbread$16

Whipped cod roe, chives, burnt lemon.

Chicory & blood orange$18

Bitter leaves, toasted hazelnut, aged pecorino.

Ash-baked beetroot$21

Buried in the embers overnight, stracciatella, saltbush.

Zucchini flowers$22

Ricotta, lemon thyme, a fast fry so the petals stay open.

Grilled prawns$26

Head on, over the coals, garlic and chilli butter.

Pasta

Rigatoni all'amatriciana$30

Guanciale we cure ourselves, San Marzano, pecorino romano.

Ravioli alla Nonna$34

Braised beef and marrow, brown butter, aged parmesan.

From the fire

Coal-grilled quail$32

Brined overnight, grilled hard and fast, vincotto.

Whole flounder$46

Line caught that morning, salsa verde, charred lemon.

Coal-roasted lamb shoulder$78

Six hours over the embers. For two to share, with flatbread.

Bistecca, dry-aged$110

1kg from Gippsland, forty days on the bone, rested in the warm. For two.

Sides

Hearth potatoes$14

Crushed, fried in beef fat, rosemary salt.

Charred broccolini$16

Anchovy, chilli, a squeeze of lemon.

Leaves & red wine vinegar$12

Whatever is best from the market that morning.

Sweet

Affogato$14

Fior di latte, a shot of Padre, amaro if you want it.

Olive oil cake$15

Rosemary, mascarpone, candied peel.

Burnt honey panna cotta$16

Set soft, poached quince, toasted almond.

Cheese, three ways$24

Australian and Italian, quince paste, seeded crackers.

Kitchen

Dinner Mon–Thu
17:30 – 22:30

Lunch & dinner Fri–Sun
12:00 – 23:00

Last orders 22:00.

Book a table

Menus change weekly, so we do not publish a PDF. What you see here is what is on the pass tonight.

Allergies

Tell us when you book and again when you sit down. We cook over open fire in one room — we can adapt most dishes, but we cannot promise a trace-free kitchen.

Feed me

Five courses, whole table$85per person

The kitchen sends what it is proudest of that night: bread, two from the coals, a pasta, something large to share and one sweet. It is how we would feed you at home, and it is the best way to eat here on a first visit.

Wine pairing

Add five glasses chosen by Tom for $55 a head. Mostly Victorian, mostly low intervention, always poured with a reason.

How it works

Whole table only, and we need to know before you arrive. Tell us about allergies and we will build around them. Tables of seven or more eat this way as a rule.

Drinks

Cocktails

Negroni$22

Stirred down, big rock, orange from the fire.

Ember spritz$19

Aperitivo, prosecco, smoked rosemary.

Amaro sour$21

Bitter, sharp, a little foam on top.

Espresso martini$22

Because you will ask for it anyway.

Wine by the glass

Prosecco, Veneto$16

Dry, salty, the way to start.

Fiano, King Valley$17

Skin contact, apricot, grippy.

Nebbiolo, Piemonte$24

Rose and tar. Drink it with the lamb.

Gamay, Yarra Valley$19

Chilled, light, dangerously easy.

The full list runs to about a hundred and eighty bottles, weighted to Victoria and northern Italy. Ask Tom — he would rather choose for you.

Beer & cider

Pilsner, on tap$12

Brewed ten minutes up the road.

Peroni, bottle$10

Cold, green, familiar.

Zero proof

Smoked grape & soda$11

House verjuice, charred grape, long ice.

Bitter orange soda$9

Made in the kitchen, properly bitter.

Lunch

Friday to Sunday only, from midday. A shorter list, the same fire, and nobody minds if it runs long into the afternoon.

On the table

Two courses$45

Something from the coals, then a pasta or a sweet.

Three courses$58

All of the above, and the panna cotta.

À la carteFrom $16

The dinner menu is available in full if you would rather build your own.

Sunlit lunch table with a half-finished bottle of wine and bread crumbs

Sunday lunch runs until the room empties, which is usually not before four.