Morris Jones: 163 Chapel Street, Windsor, 9533 2055
My score: 3/5
Meet you for a drink then grab a bite? Catch up for coffee? Do lunch? Morris Jones aims to hit whatever spot you’ve got. The huge Victorian shop, refitted handsomely for all-day eating and drinking, opened in September 2011. The dining room is separated from a drinking corral by an island bar, there’s a courtyard and a loft party zone. Check-shirted barkeeps fuel a shiny, happy mood. Co-habiting drinkers and diners can make for tricky times but the Morris Jones crew does a good job, keeping things vibrant rather than ear-crashing.
There’s palpable effort to do things a bit differently. A wood grill underpins a steak focus. The wine list is approachable and decently priced. Crepes make a change for breakfast or lunch (filled with ham, gruyere and fried egg, for example, or mushrooms, spinach and goat cheese). They’re also a good dessert option: the crepe with chocolate and hazelnut paste was my tasty pick of the desserts but that’s also because the other dessert I tried was less than pleasing. ‘Almond macaron, coconut saffron ice cream, passionfruit sorbet, vanilla tomatoes’ says the menu. It’s pure reviewer bait: I feel obliged to order something that is either going to be brilliant or disastrous. Unfortunately, this is the latter, featuring an unyielding macaron disc wedged into coconut ice that reminded me of moisturiser. The passionfruit sorbet was fine but overbearing. Tomato and vanilla can be friends but in this context they spoke only of a dish that was fussy to no avail.
Most of the food was much better. An entree of blue swimmer crab meat and trout carpaccio was pretty and poised and got a nice kick in the pants from tart lemon jelly. Pasta is made here: good thick-cut pappardelle is tossed with moist, tender shredded duck meat and sauteed mushrooms; a bit more attention would have kept the pasta strands from sticking together. Snapper pot pie was creamy and fresh but the pastry was flabby and the filling too wet. Freekeh (green wheat) should have starred in a side salad of cannellini and green beans but the grain was under-seasoned and gluggy.
This experience was lacking but I still like Morris Jones for its flexibility and ardent spirit. With a little more refinement and attention to detail (including promptly returning phone calls) the eating could be as enjoyable as the hanging out.
Click here to view their website.
More Windsor:
Woods of Windsor, 108 Chapel Street, Windsor, 9521 1900
Eating and drinking are taken seriously at this darkly timbered cave. Classy sandwiches are a lunch mainstay, followed by afternoon oysters and thoughtful contemporary dinners.
Hoo Haa, Upstairs, 105 Chapel Street, Windsor, 9529 6900
Share plates and summery pizzas are the deal at this first floor bar. Snack on pickled green pepper fritters, fight over squid with jamon and chilli, and kick back over pizza with sherry mushrooms, taleggio and green olives.
Hanoi Hannah, 180 High Street, Prahran, 9939 5181
Hip hawker-style Vietnamese food and a happy cocktail menu make for easy, breezy times.
First published in The Age, December 16, 2012
Leave A Comment