Magic Mountain Saloon – Dani Valent

Magic Mountain Saloon restaurant review The Age Good Food by Dani Valent 

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62 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 9078 0078

My score: 3.5/5

Is this Melbourne’s most magical transformation? Late on a steamy Saturday night DJs tag team, the room is heaving, and the conversation swells and crashes like waves. Just a few hours later, the sun beams handsomely through tall windows, everything gleams and you can converse in whispers. It’s a rare creature that can morph from party monster to bright-eyed darling in mere hours but maybe that’s the enchanted power of Magic Mountain. This place is, variously and vigorously, an old pub, a Thai restaurant, a cocktail bar, a hangout for curries or coffee, and a Tardis-like two-storey pile that wants to fill you up with food and fun.

Funky grills include chilli pepper steak and prawns with apple and lemongrass salad. Must-eat pork ribs are sticky with appealing sour undertones. Veal stir-fry wasn’t the strongest dish: the meat was fibrous and the eggplant squeaky and undercooked. Betel leaves piled with smoked trout, young coconut and pomelo (a grapefruit-like citrus) were so fresh and delicious they erased all sins. Crepe cake layered with tea-flavoured cream is an impressive – though very sweet – dessert. Service is stoic and upbeat, even more impressive given the hoo-ha.

After a serious mop-down, Magic Mountain reopens with one of Melbourne’s most interesting breakfast menus. Roti is slathered with almond butter and grilled banana; grated daikon becomes a zingy hash brown; it’s topped with a tangle of exotic mushrooms and chilli; ginger scrambled eggs with tea-smoked trout are zappy and satisfying, served with fluffy doorstops of white bread. Magic Mountain is sorcery at its tasty peak, whether you want a side order of party with your pork belly or like to partner coffee with congee. Pick your moment and climb in

See their website.

More party time:

Ferdydurke, 239 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 9639 3750.
Next to outdoor bar Section 8, this multi-level venue serves Polish-influenced snacks and meals including piroshky dumplings, deli sandwiches and hotdogs.

Le Bon Ton, 51 Gipps Street, Collingwood, 9416 4341.
One of the coolest venues in town, Le Bon Ton serves authentic Southern barbecue and fried chicken, plus tacos, cheese fries and banana cream pie.

The Smith, 213 High Street, Prahran, 9514 2444.
It wasn’t till I came here that I realised people actually wear impossible-to-walk-in high heels. Join the stiletto crowd for pan-Asian bites (whitebait pancake with kimchi) and party vibes (book a room for Christmas functions).

First published in The Age, October 18th, 2015.

2018-05-04T11:23:34+10:00

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