Cellar Bar: 34 Inkerman Street, St Kilda, 9534 1060
My score: 4/5
There’s nothing else like Cellar Bar in Melbourne. I love it. Go. The glamorous subterranean hideout, downstairs at the Newmarket Hotel, is the latest venture from Melbourne Pub Group, owners of Circa, Middle Park Hotel and Albert Park Hotel. Cellar Bar is faux Vegas and pretend retro, a grown-up, spangly parlour that offers a big night out not just a meal. The business card instructs diners to leave furs and inhibitions at the door: it’s suggestive and indicative. Even the pimped up toilets command a party.
The opening menu is luxe Latin: regional Mexican but dressed up to the nines. This is knife and fork food, complex and ambitious, and available only as a four, six or eight-course degustation with inspired beverage matches. Think aerated guacamole, puffed tacos and flaming sorbet. The menu and cuisine will change completely every few months making this restaurant something of a highwire act. Just as the staff have learnt how to say ‘huitlacoche’ (weet-la-cotch-eh, a fungus that is fondly known as corn truffle), all will be new and there will be another inevitable period of bedding down. The upside is that executive chef Paul Wilson has fabulous pathways for staff at the group’s four premises and, for customers, there are frequent excuses to revisit. Maybe it’s genius. Another virtuoso stroke is the fact that there’s no phone coverage in this bunker – tweet it later, ‘gater.
The Latin food is startlingly pretty, interesting, delicious and, I suspect, getting better and more balanced every week. Highlights include a seafood medley served with smoked chilli mousse and sea urchin puree; braised goat with red mole sauce; and exceptional grass-fed wagyu with pickled cactus and a luxurious take on tamale (corn mash). A crazy-good layered cake of coconut milk, goat milk and caramelised cow milk is served with jackfruit sorbet. I think some ingredients (avocado, achiote, corn truffle, coriander) cameo too often but the cooking is bang on and the progression is lively. The crockery is stunning too.
At times, earnest dish explanations compete with racy cabaret artists sashaying across the stage and contorting in the aisles. I saw feathers in places I had never previously considered. The grand piano has its ivories tinkled at times. Bar perches and booths are available for drop-ins but I suggest that once you’ve descended into this otherworldly zone, you’ll be happy to be swept up for hours.
Click here to view their website.
More dinner and a show:
Colonel Tan’s, 229 Chapel Street, Prahran, 9521 5985
Diner food, Thai style is the concept here, and the entertainment includes Tuesday trivia, Wednesday treasure hunts and DJs later in the week. The Revolver bandroom is right next door if you want to step it up a notch.
Wesley Anne, 250 High Street, Northcote, 9482 1333
There’s always something interesting happening in this cruisy church hall, with easy-going food to boot. On Sunday’s grab a spot on a couch for songwriters in the round.
St Katherine’s, 26 Cotham Road, Kew, 9207 7477
The Turkish grill was working overtime at St Kat’s first comedy night, held recently in the upstairs function room. Check their website for upcoming laugh-fests ($55, 3 courses, plenty of giggles, book now).
First published in The Age, November 18, 2012
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