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: 212 Little Collins Street Melbourne

Contact: 9654 2471

Dine in

Vego :)

Hours: Mon-Sat 7am-3am and Sun 9am-1pm

CCs accepted 

Licensed

Tapas Bars are very in right now in Melbourne but don’t feel as though you need to squeeze into somewhere so crowded that you can’t muster the elbow-room to work your cutlery. The Hairy Canary isn’t much bigger than a two-car garage but it owns it’s space so well that you’d never feel cramped. On a Saturday night at 7pm there were a healthy number of people inside but it was still easy to get a table. It was nice to see that the staff were friendly and so efficient that the place kept a buzzing momentum that made you feel well-looked after. Lighting was warmly dimmed but not so pretentiously dark that you’re about to tuck into your friend’s unsuspecting left hand. When summer rolls around it’d be useful to know that the restaurant’s entire front window opens like an awning over Little Collins Street and lets the breeze waft in.

There was an extensive drink list but it might be worth mentioning that vodka starts at $9, so choose wisely. The cocktails were adventurous; anything from gorgeous champagne with flecks of Chambord jelly (Jelly Royale) to the Bloody Mary with bacon (Meat Mary). I must say I opted for the safer Jelly Royale, but I’m not entirely adverse to returning for Meat Mary over Breakfast sometime. That’s right, The Canary does breakfast and the prices looked pretty reasonable too. The tapas is displayed first in the menu but there are full-sized dishes available too if you’re really not a sharer. Once we had settled nicely into our drinks our first tapas arrived; piping hot long slices of chorizo with a lemon for drizzling. Now, as the girlfriend of a serious Chorizo-fiend, I taste a lot of the stuff, but this baby just blew my mind. There were no chewy fat pockets or gristle, just taste-bud-tingling flavour nirvana. The hot, salty, but complicated notes of the Chorizo just sang under the sharpness of the lemon juice. Next up was sourdough bread which arrived with black char grilled lines and a smoky flavour to match. It arrived on a large plate nuzzled into a generous serve of tomato, onion and garlic salsa.

The orders kept arriving in a suitably staggered fashion, with saganaki with lemon served next. This dish was delicious and delivered exactly what you would expect, so no innovations but nicely done. Finally we were served chicken meatballs with coriander, which fell a bit flat after the spectacular array of food just eaten. The chicken was comparatively bland and overwhelmed by the coriander dressing, but it was definitely not bad, perhaps it just needed more salt.

What makes The Hairy Canary so successful is that you don’t feel like you’re buying into a fad by being there, the people are genuine, the serves generous, and the quality of everything from the champagne to the cheese is excellent. Best of all the prices aren’t silly, so you don‘t feel like a sucker when you leave. This place has been around for a while and although it isn’t the hot new kid on the block anymore, it has stood the test of time and will no doubt survive the tapas wave of the noughties to serve long into the future.

Food: 4.5/5

Service: 5/5

Ambience: 5/5

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