A first-floor oasis of smart Euro-leaning coking paired with an Aladdin’s cave of lo-fi wine treasures, Neighbourhood Wine is both dining destination and casual wine bar, where a casual pop-in could easily melt into an hours-long stay.
Today, the dust has been swept away and some of the more burdensome security features removed, but apart from bespoke wine storage throughout the room, not much has changed. The interior décor remains largely intact, though it’s reasonable to expect the vibe may have changed somewhat. A gangster’s ‘gentleman’s’ club is certainly not the first thing that springs to mind, with the roulette wheel replaced by a well-supplied turntable, and the Victorian décor reflected through a 1980s sensibility an oddly harmonious feature.
The wine offer runs to over 550 listings, with 20 plus by the glass, and a cant towards wines less handled. “We definitely lean to the minimal intervention end of the wine spectrum, but it is purely out of preference. We are not dogmatic about it,” says Denman. “If a more conventional wine is drinking well and at a great price, we will be all over it.”
Walking the wine bar and restaurant divide deftly, Neighbourhood Wine is one of those venues that will be used by customers in distinctly different ways, from casual drinking to more involved dining. But the overall feel is one of warm hospitality and conviviality, a little oasis removed from the outside world.
At Geralds, the early arrivals dictate the open bottles, which can be switched around once exhausted, with ten typically open at any one time.
From a single site adjacent to the Princes Theatre, business partners Con Christopoulos and Josh Brisbane have – over the course of a decade or two – acquired the entire Spring Street frontage up to the lane that borders the Imperial Hotel. Starting with the European and Melbourne Supper Club – which saved a whole…
Words like ‘institution’ and ‘iconic’ get tossed around a lot, and not always with deep justification. But France-Soir, near the top of the Toorak Road hill in Melbourne’s South Yarra, has earned both of those monikers, and some time ago. It is indeed an iconic institution, and an establishment with a loyal following that few…
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