© nakedforsatan.com.au
Naked For Satan was recommended to me when I asked around for a good place to have lunch with a friend visiting Melbourne recently. After a quick look at their website I decided we would give it a try. The restaurant is located in the centre of Fitzroy and the food is based upon recipes from the indigenous Basque people (now part of modern day Spain).
The area of Fitzroy was once considered the slums of inner Melbourne, however over the past 20 years young singles, couples and families began moving into the area, creating a trendy, almost hippy and arts based suburb. Fitzroy now has some of the best restaurants and shops in Melbourne, with most of them tucked away just waiting for you to find them.
Naked For Satan is no exception to this. When walking down Brunswick Street to number 285, we were presented with a front window holding two large brass vodka spirit distillers, out of commission but works of art in their own right. After entering the door, there is a bar on the left serving a large array of alcoholic beverages, with more than 26 different vodkas and 40 types of beer and cider, including their in house ‘Naked for Satan Ale’, available on tap.
There are no signs to the restaurant, nor is it obvious where the restaurant is located. We quickly realised that the bar menu, though decorated with all manner of images of both men and women, did not contain anything other than entrees, the restaurant must be elsewhere.
We took a walk to the back of the bar, and there was a kitchen on the left and on the right was an elevator. The elevator was manned by a staff member standing behind a rostrum, who was taking people upstairs in the elevator. We decided to follow and headed up to the top floor. Things seemed a lot more promising as we had found the restaurant known as Naked in the Sky.
Naked in the Sky is an open terrace restaurant on the top floor of the building, with decor beautiful both for its historical appearance and modern touches. Business looked like it was doing well, as there were only two available tables. With fingers crossed we would not be waiting too long and miss a flight back to the Gold Coast we went ahead with ordering.
Everything on the menu is designed to share, so when ordering everyone can choose different dishes, then the food is placed on the table for all guests to taste and enjoy.
We started off with some grilled prawn and beef skewers, each order comes with two skewers to share. The beef was comprised of well cooked (medium) pieces of marinated steak along with pieces of grilled capsicum between each fillet. The prawns were perfectly cooked, tender and juicy and came topped with tiny squares of capsicum which had been cooked in a salsa to absorb the flavour. The prawns were so good we ordered more as our main course arrived.
For mains I went with the grilled octopus and my friend chose the sirloin steak, although the octopus was by far the highlight meal of the afternoon. We expected to see some regular baby octopus lightly fried with some mashed potato, instead we were served thin (slightly over bite sized) fillets of octopus tentacles, with a potato puree topped with sweet smoked paprika. The potato puree was to be used as a dip for the octopus. At first we were a bit sceptical, but after tasting one piece this was a definite winner. The octopus was tender and fell apart easily when eaten and the potato dip was very light and fluffy but firm and worked perfectly in combination.
All the food prepared at Naked in the Sky was cooked to perfection and I consider this to be one of the best restaurants in Melbourne. Food delivery was also very timely and the vast array of Vodkas is definitely a feature.
I have lived in Melbourne for 30 years, and can honestly say I’ve never had food this good anywhere else. I highly recommend Naked in the Sky if you are visiting or a resident of Melbourne and looking for a fun afternoon or night out. Allow around $70 per person so each guest can order two or three dishes to share and a couple of drinks.
Visit this venues website at http://www.nakedforsatan.com.au/naked-in-the-sky/
