LITTLE MARKOV

350 Drummond St, Carlton - ph: (03) 9347 7113
www.markov.com.au

My friend and I were looking for a place to grab a bite to eat before heading to a Monday night movie session at Cinema Nova. I generally avoid the Italian restaurants along Lygon St. There are a few good options for lunch around there, but all those Italian restaurants handing vouchers for free drinks at night with your dinner just don't do it for me.

Luckily, there are plenty of good options around Carlton once you step out of Lygon St. Markov Place is definitely one of them. I've been there a couple of times and loved it every single one of them. This time we tried Little Markov, the tapas bar adjacent to the restaurant.

We ordered the seafood board to share and a beetroot salad as a side dish. The salad was delicious. Perfectly cooked - still slightly crunchy - beetroots were accompanied by goats cheese, grapefruit and mixed leaves. A light citrus-y dressing complemented this dish perfectly without being overpowering.

Baby beet salad ($15)

Seafood board was enormous and included natural oysters, scallops in vinaigrette, smoked salmon with capers, crab salad and fish balls.

Seafood board ($30)

Seafood board

Everything tasted good, but the standout for both of us was the fresh crab salad. So light and refreshing - each of us could have had a bowl of it.

Albeit a Monday night, I couldn't resist ordering a glass of cava (Spanish sparkling wine) to go with the seafood.

My drink was served with a little tapas side dish - a couple of eggplant croquettes. Little Markov is really following the Spanish tapas style of serving something small to eat complimentary when you order a drink during happy hour (not sure which days/times this 'promotion' is on, call them to confirm).

Complimentary tapas served with drinks

In sum, delicious, fresh, generous meal served in a cosy tapas bar for under $25pp. Worth the walk out of Lygon St.