Two-hatted chef Clinton McIver opens new spot in Armadale

It’s a wonder that chef Clinton McIver is still standing after the year he’s had.

Sure, everyone in hospitality did it tough, but when you’re in the business of fine dining – with a typical dish in a 16-course meal being raw scallop with bone marrow and caviar – you’re not exactly serving to the pandemic crowd (although there was a take-home offering for two during lockdown).

But now that McIver’s working at capacity again, he’s hardly taking it easy: instead, he’s decided to open Auterra, a wine bar with snacks far more casual than the restaurant that has made his reputation.

“It’s not going to be another Amaru,” he says. “I just want it to be fun; a bit loose.”

If it seems a wee bit mad to start up a new eatery in the middle of lockdown, it pays to remember that McIver already knows how to ride the choppy waves.

When he first opened Amaru in Armadale five years ago, the first year was extremely hard.

“We could have closed that restaurant month to month,” McIver says. “We hung in there.”

The resilience paid off; within two years, Amaru received two hats in The Age Good Food Guide, and McIver, a one-time sous chef at Vue de Monde, became a bona fide foodie celebrity.

Moreover, he created the restaurant of his dreams: a fine dining experience that didn’t feel too formal (you’ll see no linen tablecloths on the tables and no waiters sweeping up crumbs from the cloth), with an intimate vibe (there are only 34 seats) and unpretentious food.

“It’s not overly showy; I’m not into theatrics or smoke and mirrors,” McIver says. “I want the experience to be genuine. And the food to obviously be delicious.”

McIver also wanted something as a counterpoint to the restaurant that sets most diners back around $300 per head, including drinks. “You can be walking past on your way home from work, go in and have a glass of wine, or have a couple of glasses!”

The interiors by Iva Foschia will also give a nod to the drop, with a transition of reds across the walls, starting with a rich bordeaux colour and moving to a pale blush. Upstairs, a private dining room seats 12.

The food will hardly be secondary: an example of McIver’s snack food is Great Ocean Road duck liver and breast cured and smoked with organic buckwheat.

“It’s taken over five years to really get us to the point where we’re getting our own identity, creating our own dynamic. We’re homed in on the sort of direction we want to go, and we like being a little bit off the beaten path, the way a lot of excellent restaurants are around the world.

“I think going out [to eat and drink] should be very fun. It should be exciting. But it still has to be sharp. It has to reflect some value. And you have to have people wanting to come back.”

Auterra Wine Bar
1160 High Street, Armadale