Not too fancy, not too casual, this bistro finds the Goldilocks zone

In my imagination, Elgin Street in Carlton was once a thrumming community of small, classy neighbourhood bistros interspersed with tailors, barbers and fruiterers. The real estate in the blocks between Lygon and Canning streets are perfect for this purpose, with their vintage glass shopfronts begging for pretty white curtains and menus hung by the door.

I’m aware that this was probably never the case – it certainly has not been so in the years I’ve lived in Melbourne, neither recently nor in the ’80s and early ’90s, and I haven’t looked farther back than that – partially so my fantasy won’t be smashed on the rocks of reality. But I will say that the bones are there for just such a modest restaurant row, and I’ve always longed to see it take shape.

(There are, of course, already restaurants here, including Abla’s, the wonderful Lebanese stalwart, but Elgin is hardly a bustling culinary wonderland.)

As if it sprung directly from my box of hopes and dreams, Bistra is proving the point. Opened in April, the restaurant takes one of those vintage chrome-and-tile shopfronts and gives it everything it needs to beckon you inside: the warm light, the curtains, a metal bar across the door spelling out the name in art deco lettering. Peek inside and you’ll see white-clothed tables and whitewashed stone walls – nothing too fancy and nothing too casual.

Co-owners Joseph Ho, Henry Crawford and Alexei Taheny-Macfarlane are presenting Bistra as a celebration of the ’90s Australian bistro, a category that you might not know exists but one that makes sense once you see this place and this menu. Chef Alex Nishizawa takes inspiration from gastropubs, trattorias and French bistros, and the elegance of the food’s presentation does feel like a throwback.

There’s a chicken liver pâté ($24), silky smooth and served with traditional accompaniments, potato roesti patties with creme fraiche and trout roe ($28), and an onion soup crowned with comte ($21).

While everyone else is doing elevated versions of tawdry, fast-food-like burgers, Bistra serves a very restaurant-y cheeseburger, piled high with butter lettuce and served with thin, crisp fries ($32 – yes, it’s a very restaurant-y price for a burger, too). It doesn’t have quite the smoosh and glop of its over-the-top counterparts, but I suspect that’s the point.

A pristine fillet of red emperor is expertly pan-cooked and laid over a white bean ragu with braised fennel ($44), while scotch fillet gets the classic treatment of peppercorn sauce and fries ($48).

There’s an element of comfort to all of this, albeit the comfort provided by upscale restaurants 20 to 30 years ago. That’s the intent of the place, so this isn’t a complaint – but whether it will resonate with you relies heavily on your feelings (or lack thereof) about white tablecloth dining from a not-too-distant past.

In some ways, I’m most excited about Bistra’s desserts, which bypass the ’90s theme (which would probably require creme brulee and flourless chocolate cake) and go truly retro with rhubarb trifle ($18) and coconut custard with lime granita ($18). There’s a creativity here that you don’t see with the rest of the menu, and it ends the meal on a decidedly joyous note.

Unsurprisingly, given the wine-heavy background of the owners, the wine list is fantastic, with bottles from all over the world and at every price point.

Bistra is purpose-built for a low-stakes date night, that common occasion when one of you wants a burger and the other wants a well-cooked piece of fish; a place where the food, wine and service will all be dependably great without needing to be wildly ambitious or shockingly modern. It’s exactly the restaurant that this stretch of Elgin Street needs, no more and no less.