Location: 500 Victoria Street North Melbourne

Contact: (03) 9329 5228

When: Tues-Sat Lunch 12-3pm, dinner 6-10pm 

Licensed

Dine-in

Pricing: Mains under $40, entrées under $20

Payment: Cash and CC

Vego barely-friendly :/

French restaurant Libertine in North Melbourne likes to squeeze as much old fashioned glamour as it can into it’s petite single-fronted fit-out. A large chandelier is hung from the ceiling, it’s light bouncing off ornate gold-framed mirrors. The little wooden tables sat snugly in rows, done up in white tablecloths and wine glasses for weekday luncheon. However the experience of being at Libertine during the day was less forgiving than on an evening, as the tiredness of the building showed more easily. Something was making a rattling noise, a dishwasher or an air-conditioner, our table had a precarious wobble and the whole building just felt as though it needed some maintenance. Nevertheless Libertine is still the sort of place where you need to use your manners; despite old jazz softly playing in background it feels as though you could give away most of your conversation unintentionally.  

So what’s for lunch then? We were saddened to find that the previous lunch and wine special no longer exists. Since the  $95 Degustation option was a little grandiose for the occasion we decided to go a la carte. All entrées were $19 and Mains were $36, with different prices again for cheese, dessert and side dishes. Every day there is a ‘changing dish for two’, which unfortunately for us cheap skates is not a two-for-one deal. We went ahead with it anyway and ordered the Pork neck, confit belly with fig sauce and roast vegetables as well as an entrée of chicken liver parfait, onion brioche and pickled carrot. 

Chicken liver parfait, onion brioche and pickled carrot $19

Our entree arrived with a generous scoop of parfait and an adorable two tone brioche adorned with a half fig, fresh garnishes and puddle of what tasted like fig jam. The sweet and gamey flavours worked really well together and the pickled carrot was a zingy finish. Shortly afterwards arrived the pork, sauce on the side with sunset-coloured autumn vegetables including baby beets and roasted chestnuts. Expecting the sauce to be sweet, I was disappointed to find that it tasted mostly of chicken stock and butter, the only hint of fig evident in its shade of burgundy. The pork was cooked perfectly but the butter in the sauce proved too rich a combination for the fatty pork belly. The vegetables, though excitingly coloured were bland and even bitter in some cases. A successful touch was the roasted chestnuts which added a smooth sweetness and texture to the vegetables. 

Pork neck and confit belly with roasted vegetables and fig sauce for two

As you would expect at a fine-dining establishment, the service was good with no hesitation to top up our water and bread rolls. We felt well looked after. If you were to stay for a drink after lunch you’d find excellent coffee by someone called Joshua Bailey. It smelled delicious but that’s as far as my experience stretches. If bring ing company to Libertine, don’t be put off by the small room, there is another one upstairs big enough for a function or large group. The uniform prices would also make it easier to decipher the group bill. If French food, particularly meat and wine is your thing then it is worth your time to visit Libertine. If not and for me personally, then their food doesn’t really justify the money handed over. Coffee and dessert however is a different story, I’m still very much interested:)

As a side note there is a handy book-online feature, exciting no?

Food: 3.5/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 3.5/5

Location: 96 Smith St Collingwood

Contact: (03) 94172373

Licensed

When: Weds-Sun 6pm till late Fri-Sat Midday-3pm

Dine in 

Pricing: Mains $25-$34

CC, Cash

You can be cool and eat at underground small-town places, you can be affluent and dine at high-end city joints like The Press Club or you can be both and get on down to Easy Tiger on Smith Street. In case you haven’t noticed, Thai food isn’t really in at the moment. It’s too widely popular to be cool and it’s too reasonably priced to be high-end. If you’ve had enough of drinking out of plastic cups and shouting over the noise at Thaila Thai in East Brunswick, Easy Tiger may be for you. 

With design to make Stanley Kubrik jealous, Easy Tiger has a slick space age-meets 1970’s fit-out with curvy white walls and built-in wooden shelves. Coloured glass tumblers glow as they sit along the illuminated walls. It’s a beautiful place and really looks more like an art gallery than a restaurant. I felt a bit uneasy even though the staff were friendly, just because the restaurant seemed to take “cool” so seriously. 

We were greeted with a welcome drink, that special tea with the unfolding dried flower in it. I guess it needed to brew longer because unfortunately it just tasted like tepid water. Seafood fiends will enjoy the menu as well those who get a kick out of the inventive and unusual. You might have realised by now that Easy Tiger is Thai influenced, and really isn’t trying to be authentic. In some cases this works, in others it does not. For example the Larp Gai; a minced chicken and prawn dish served with lettuce cups ($12) didn’t appear any different to the traditional Thai version except that it was blander, without that juicy citrus kick I love so much. However the Sour Fish Curry had lots of bite and included slices of crunchy radish for an inventive twist.

Mar Hor $4

The entrées were probably where all the innovations were, we ordered the Mar Hor; sticky balls of burnt peanuts, sweet sauce and shrimp paste atop a spongy disk of watermelon. They looked very “high end” as they came out, dwarfed by the white-space of the bare plate around them. As the waiter said, “they’ll only make you hungrier”. I suppose in this sense they embody true appetiser values.

We also ordered the Hot and Sour Thai Beef Salad ($28) which substituted the usual stir-fry cut meat for beef jerky. It worked surprisingly well and avoided that cheap, fatty, meat feeling you can often get with this meal. It also meant that it was more like a side than a meal, with the beef mere little twists amongst the vegetables and not likely to satisfy a whole person, or half a person really. It was lovely to find julienne slices of fresh wintermelon in both meals; a fresh and crunchy addition. 

Hot and Sour Thai Beef Salad $28

You get the feeling that Easy Tiger is catering to a niche of Thai-food noobs as it seemed like they were presenting all the “exotic” flavours of the East to new eyes. For example, we were politely informed that we should share two dishes, one on each side with rice in the middle of table. After which we should first take some rice and then some of either meal to enjoy the flavours all together. Well duh.

Food 2.5/5

Service 4/5

Ambience 4/5

Location: 389-391 Brunswick St Fitzroy

Contact: (03) 9419 7411

Licensed

When: Weekends 9am-12pm, Tues-Sunday 12pm-10:30pm 

Dine in

Pricing: $25-35 for mains

CC, Cash, EFTPOS

Vego :)  (although only one veg main dish)

So what happens when gritty, hipster Brunswick street does fine dining? St Judes’ Cellars; all the attention to detail and quality you’d expect for an expensive night out minus the pretentiousness. That means that you can still expect to hear how your steak has been grain-fed for a hundred days before it was turned into your dinner but no one is going to put your napkin on your lap for you. This is good for me, I don’t like having my napkin done, it reminds me of that fetish people have where they like to dress up in nappies and be treated like babies. 

So enough about fetishes, you want to know about St Judes’ Cellars.  Some readers may remember that last year I stopped by for a pre-dinner drink, and as promised to myself have returned for dinner. I’d saved up some money because not only are the meals on the expensive side (by Lunchosaurus standards) but I really think that it is necessary to indulge in the exciting drinks menu. Cocktails available range from old glamour to ditsy and fruity, but don’t worry, nothing is going to come out with umbrellas and sparklers. I had a champagne cocktail with berries from the south of France, and while I’ll admit to not being able to distinguish between southern French berries and the local kind, it was extremely delicious. You can order various types of ciders, some served on ice and some which aren’t supposed to be. Refreshingly, the waiters are totally tongue-in-cheek about how pretentious these items really are so you can relax. 

Once you’ve ordered your drink you can keep looking at your menu, because it is also your placemat. Convenient for when you get too wasted to be able to ask for another menu. Not that you should be getting wasted really, the meals are much too small and intricate to shovel down in two inebriated gulps. We ordered a teensy entrée bruschetta special which was like no bruschetta I’ve ever experienced. It arrived looking like some sort of dessert; five golden bread cubes glistening with jewels of tomato. The traditional tomato-heavy bruscetta can be a bit tacky so it was nice to just have a flavour burst of extra virgin olive oil, tomato seeds and rock salt. Not bad for two dollars something.

Bruschetta $2 something

It wasn’t long till our “mains” arrived, and I place this term in inverted commas because they are really entrees. We ordered from the ‘Lighter Dishes’ section because we liked the options better, but we needed a couple of sides to make a meal of everything. I ate the ‘Gnocchi Romano with charred leeks and Sovrano cheese ($12) and the broccoli Romesco ($5) on the side. It may interest you know that the gnocchi isn’t the usual small, fluffy kind. On your plate you’ll find two large spongy discs which you should eat slowly. I must admit they weren’t as amazing as they looked, a little bland and not bouncy enough for me. The leeks added a mild base of sweet onion flavours, nothing very loud. The broccoli was cooked perfectly so it glowed vivid green. It was served with a delicious tomato sauce, like a pesto passata or something. The potatoes with Raclette cheese ($5) were amazing, resulting in a new favourite cheese for Lunchosaurus. 

Broccoli Romesco $5

For dessert I didn’t feel much like anything on the menu and was too tipsy to be bothered looking for the cake display, what can I say, I tried. St Judes’ was definitely an enjoyable experience, thanks to the calm smoothness of the long room and homely staff as well as the food. I was delighted to find that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays there is a $10 meal special from a choice of three meals. Vegetarians would be wise to check if all of the options have meat. Otherwise everyone should get down to St Judes’ Cellars, and take a date, they’ll be impressed and want lots of babies with you.

Gnocchi Romano $12

Food: 4/5

Service: 5/5

Ambience: 5/5

St Jude’s Cellars

Location: 389-391 Brunswick St Fitzroy

Contact: 9419 7411

Dine-in

Licensed

Hours: Weekends 9am-12pm, Tues-Sunday 12pm-10:30pm

Enjoying one of the warmest evenings Melbourne Spring has offered so far, I headed down to Brunswick St as the sun was setting for a drink and some dinner. Trying to avoid a rowdy Football Grand Final crowd, I opted for the upmarket bar and restaurant, St Jude’s Cellars. At 6:30pm the large, polished hall was empty, but clever interior design ensured I didn’t feel too exposed. A large wine rack, about 2 metres tall divided the dining area from the bar, which left me with a narrow corridor between the bar and the wine rack, to sit comfortably at a high table for two. St Jude’s has two sister restaurants, my pre-reviewed Rice Queen and The Panama Dining Room which share a similar architectural philosophy. However it could be said that St Jude’s is the more conservative family member, with a nice house and a luxury car.

The service at St Jude’s is impressive; prepare to be waited-on from the moment the door is opened for you, and you should equally prepare your wallet to compensate for this. The place is pricey but you can see where your money is going so it shouldn‘t come as a surprise. St Jude’s has broad opportunities as a venue with it’s vast but cosy spaces, accommodating both the large group and the intimate two-some. 

I just stopped in for a drink so I may return another time and review food, when I’m feeling especially classy. This time I ordered a $6.50 pomegranate juice (pictured) which resembled a giant glass of Trublood and tasted like a biting fruit tree. Not for the faint hearted, but I certainly enjoyed it. The syrupy crimson juice was tart but smooth and something inside me told me to add vodka, but by then it was dinner time…

Drink: 4/5

Service: 5/5

Ambience: 4.5/5

                                                 * * *

Hooked Seafood Eatery

Location: 384 Brunswick St Fitzroy

Contact: 9417 7740 

Dine-in and Take-away

Licensed 

Hours: Sun-Weds 12pm-9pm, Thurs-Sat 12pm-10pm

A short hop across the road I found Hooked Fish and Chips, which boasts to be Melbourne’s Healthiest Fish and Chips. I’m assuming this is most prevalent if you order your fish with rice and bokchoy instead of chips, but then it wouldn’t really be fish and chips would it? I was dismayed to find that I couldn’t have half choy/half chips, so I went with standard chips. There are some good lunch and student deals on during the day but if you’re swaggering in for a catch after 5pm you’ll be forking out about $12 for the fish of the day and a side. Service is quick and friendly and the cute maritime décor might make you want to stay and eat on the distressed wooden tables topped with tea-lights. The drink selection also exceeds your average fish and chip fridge with a few beers and my favourite, Phoenix Cola at hand for $3.80. 

My fish of the day turned out to be sort of on the strong side, but fish lovers will enjoy the fresh Blue Grenadier. You can order it grilled or with a light tempura batter and although you’ll find tomato sauce and vinegar on the table you can choose from 3 homemade sauces, all 90 cents each. I smothered the tartar all over my fish and enjoyed it much more. The chunky square chips were nothing special, a little on the dry side. Perhaps this is because they were also healthified? They were OK once I had doused them in malt vinegar, something I was very happy to have free on my table. I’m not really a seafood person but I could tell the fish was very fresh and that made me feel sort of healthy as I abused all the free condiments. I noticed a woman on the next table eating oysters and was impressed, take-away oysters seem cool. Hooked’s whole shtick could be represented by the take-away oysters; it’s fine-dining in a drafty (albeit charming) little shop front.

Food: 3.5/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 3/5

Location: 500 Bourke St Melbourne

(Entrance via Little Bourke St)

Contact: (03) 9663 3038 Bookings are highly recommended

Dine-in

Vego :(

CC & EFTPOS

Hours: Mon-Fri 12pm-late, Sat 5pm-late

Licensed

Movida has become quite the Melbourne institution, and if you’ve ever tried to get a table at Movida or Movida Next Door you’ll know it sure ain’t easy. I guess all the scrambling over a place to sit has convinced the Movidian Empire that it’s time to expand, so they’ve whipped up the cool new Movida Aqui. Hidden in the business district of town it’s snuggled between Bourke and Little Bourke Streets and elevated quite high (probably not wheelchair accessible) so it peers into the surrounding office windows and has the Supreme Court dome at eye-level. The best way I would think to describe the interior would be ‘fine-dining grunge’ with a home-style Spanish touch. I guess that’s what happens when you take a big shiny room with smooth, new wooden furniture, chocolate leather and light it with milk crate lamps and fluorescent beams encased in long slices of coloured Perspex. Before you can wince at the thought of fluorescent lighting, it’s worth knowing that there is very little of it. In fact, it’s a very dark place, with only the bar and kitchen glowing brightly in the centre of the room. If you like to feel part of the action then you may want to ask for a table near the kitchen as it’s far livelier than the sombre spots tucked close to the windows. I liked being tucked away in the dark though, it was quiet and relaxing.

So once you have selected your table you’ll get a chance to interpret the menu, which may take you some time as it is mostly in Spanish. Fortunately the staff are very accommodating and are all too happy to explain everything. Being a tapas restaurant, the dishes are small and made to be shared. Don’t try and order separately because the meals come out as they’re ready, not all at once. The food does come out quickly though, and you already are provided with a large home-crafted-looking dinner plate either in a burnt orange or pea-green glaze. There is also a lengthy drinks list, with Sangria looking particularly attractive, but I was on a budget. If anyone would care to donate to the cause please let me know.

Now I’m a bit hazy on the details because it was so dark I put away my notepad, but the tapas range from about $4 to $25 and you can order a large dish for two (about $25 per person) such as the lamb ribs with wet rice which smelled incredible from the table next to us. If you do order one of these meals to share, you probably won’t need to order anything else but be prepared to wait around 45 minutes for it to arrive. Unfortunately I was much too hungry to wait for the slow cooked meal, so I went the other extreme with the cold wagyu beef which was seasoned with garlic and garnished with raisins and sweet and salty crackers. Sounds weird, tastes amazing I can assure you. A good value option (and there really aren’t many as far as Tapas goes) is the baked potato dish which is smothered in what I could only describe as a smoky bacon sauce, but which they called something much more classy and served with toothpicks, ooh. Names aside, these were delicious and just perfect on a freezing winter evening. Then there was the Chorizo dish which had three juicy sausages on a bed of warm, red beans. This wasn’t so great, it was very simple, encompassing only two flavours, despite interesting little lashings of chopped beetroot which appeared to be not much more than decorative.

Moving on to dessert is most exciting, although why they have so many icy options on the menu in winter is beyond me. My comfortably warm dining buddy ordered the coffee granita which arrived in a little glass topped with the most amazing looking pillow of cream. Upon stealing this however, I realised it was just unsweetened pure cream and not actually some kind of super cream concoction. The coffee granita delivered the expected punch of flavour and was most tasty.

I ordered the ganache which involved a cake-like round which when pierced with spoon, oozes a warm, bittersweet centre. Anise-flavoured ice-cream adds a subtle, spicy sweetness to the concentrated cocoa flavours. If this isn’t exciting enough, the ganache also come with three miniature chocolate nougat blocks, which melt in your mouth. I could not finish this dessert, which I regret each and every day. Movida ganache, if I could, I’d finish you right now.

Food: 4/5

Service: 5/5

Ambience: 4.5/5