After two years of lockdown, it’s only natural anticipation peaks when a new venue opens. Especially one with such promise as Dixon & Sons – the flagship eatery at new The Porter House Hotel – MGallery on Castlereagh Street. Named after the merchant family who once traded from the former Victorian warehouse, the 90-seater brasserie ticks all the boxes when it comes to restaurant cred: fashionable CBD location in a restored heritage-listed building, trusted talent in the kitchen with chef Emrys Jones (ex-Fish Butchery), luxe brasserie fit-out and adjoining boutique hotel if you want to make a night of it.

And as with all new venues, it’s important for pioneering patrons to anticipate teething problems, especially for a venue with such ambition as Dixon & Sons. With the smell of freshly upholstered furniture and lacquered paint still drying on the walls on our first visit (technically our second, thanks to a bug in the online-only booking system) we take our seat at the dine-in bar, a commanding marble and brass wheelhouse at the centre of the dining room. A friendly bartender splashes olive brine into frosty martini glasses and tops the thick crema of an amaretto sour with a maraschino cherry with attentive precision. After 20 minutes of watching his mesmerising movements, we have built up a thirst, but the Yarra Valley Blanc de Blanc we ordered is nowhere to be seen. Our waiter confers with a huddle of his colleagues, but doesn’t seem to be able to locate the two flutes either. With neither wine nor water flowing into the empty glasses before us, we write the aperitifs off as man overboard, and turn our (parched) attention to the food.

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Chef Emrys technique-driven Brit-French brasserie fare is a perfect partner to that sumptuous dining room, while Asian inflections and the considered use of Australian natives give a contemporary Antipodean edge. We skip the oysters with mignonette when our waiter can’t recall where they are from, opting instead for the baby cos hearts with Ortiz anchovy and macadamia dukkah. I love the relaxed approach of a no-cutlery dish, but as we crunch through the little green boats topped with golden native dukkah we wonder if the kitchen forgot to add the anchovies as the snack lacks the salty dunking we had hoped for. 

Tucking into a glistening plate of cured ora king salmon ribbons arranged with pearls of dashi cream and slices of fermented kumquat we feel like two Tibetan monks sweeping away an intricate sand mandala. The impermanence of the dish is replenished with chef Emrys’ timely delivery of an equally glossy beef tartare. Spiked with smoked soy, cured yolk and nori, and served with rice crackers, each crunchy bite takes us into the deep blue of umami. 

With an Italian Pecorino (finally!) splashing into our glasses, we toast to the signature beef Wellington making landfall. Sour cream pastry is so perfectly shaped and varnished it looks like mahogany panelling encasing a chubby parcel of beef tenderloin layered with mushroom and wasabi duxelles. We admire the portly curves of the Wellington before the chef retrieves it to slice before serving with silken mashed potato, petrol black miso eggplant puree and bordelaise sauce. We double down on the decadence with a side of triple cooked chips with native oregano salt as our maiden voyage at Dixon & Sons comes to an end. It has been a turbulent passage, but we expect a course correct over time as she leaves the safe harbour on each new service. 

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