The Weekend Australian, Travel & Indulgence
Ed Charles goes fossicking in Melbourne’s city alleys and discovers a treasure trove of dining gems
April 14, 2007
MELBOURNE may recently have landed its own Rockpool Bar & Grill, but with this one exception, high-profile restaurants are not where it’s at in this city right now. Rather, central Melbourne is teeming with exciting hole-in-the-wall restaurants and basement bars hidden down tiny alleys off the city’s famous laneways.
With a few exceptions, the laneway action centres on and around Little Bourke Street, Little Collins Street and Flinders Lane, from Swanston Street up to Spring Street. While these lanes host such exciting treasures as the Asian-themed Ezard or the Italian classic Il Bacaro, the real action is on the cross streets, sometimes dark alleys with little more than graffiti and dustbins as signposts.
It is impossible to write a definitive guide to this area, as the streetscape and food and drink offerings are constantly changing. A new retail and office development on Little Collins Street will see the popular and evocative Bistro 1 disappear. At the same time, a new eat street will emerge on Windsor Lane with the refurbishment of the Windsor Hotel.
But perhaps one of the best places to start is Hosier Lane. Enter opposite Federation Square on Flinders Street to find a treasure trove of art installations, graffiti, stencil art and posters. Here you can observe Melbourne’s foodies up close in the blondwood interior of the Spanish-influenced sensation MoVida (No.1). While you can sit at one of the tables, pulling up a stool at the bar is a popular option to experience some authentic tapas-style eating. Try a manzanilla or a fino sherry while tucking into a sensational half-shell scallop baked with jamon and potato foam. MoVida also serves the very expensive and delicious jamon Iberico. Afterwards, try the equally funky Misty next door (No.3-5), for a drink or two (or three).
Farther up Flinders Lane is Oliver Lane where Mini (Level 1, No.141) and Yu-u (No.137) occupy basements on opposite corners. Mini is one of two new and notable modern Greek restaurants, the other being the Press Club, which isn’t in a laneway and is therefore disqualified for this story. You can pop in for a drink and mezze at Mini, or sit in the stylish and modern room for a full meal.
Yu-u has cult-like status and shuns all publicity. Bookings are essential because, frustratingly, it closes at 9.30pm and seats only 28. Enter through the heavy, graffiti-sprayed steel door and descend into a minimalist concrete interior. The main seating is around a heavy wooden bar beside a yakitori grill. Not only is the Japanese food excellent but it is exceptional value for money.
Italian food is the main fare on George Parade, which is also home to Fifteen Melbourne (official address: 115-117 Collins St). While the critics who’ve been allowed in have panned it, the food at Fifteen has improved significantly since its launch. People seem to really enjoy their visits to this Jamie Oliver-inspired training restaurant for disadvantaged young people and, given its reality-television pedigree, there are more digital snaps being taken than usual.
Fifteen inhabits a classic Melbourne basement venue (it was formerly the site of MoMo) entered through twin glass doors on George Parade. The main frustration is that for weekends you will need to book three months in advance, although tables are available at short notice for lunch early in the week. Next door is the romantic and atmospheric Italy 1 (27 George Pde), while opposite is Il Solito Posto (Shop 4, 113CollinsSt), both worthy venues despite their lack of patronage by Oliver.
Towards Little Collins Street in the old Mietta’s building on Alfred Place is swanky Comme Kitchen (7 Alfred Pl). On summer weeknights, crowds pour from the bar and take over the laneway. The restaurant is hidden at the back of the bar and offers French and Spanish-influenced food.
Nearby is lively Meyers Place. Bar Lourinha (37 Little Collins St) technically isn’t on Meyers Place but is as near as you can get. It doesn’t take bookings but there is usually room to sit and have a drink while waiting for a table to become available for the Spanish-Portuguese fusion food. The signature dish of a very spicy and meaty, flaming chorizo sausage never fails to attract a gasp.
Across Bourke Street is Crossley Street, home to Italian dining fixture Becco (No.11-25), as well as chef Teage Ezard’s take on Asian hawker food at Gingerboy (No.27-29). Both offer good food and drink but are a little too contrived to offer laneway authenticity.
For that, go down Little Bourke Street and three lanes before you reach Russell Street, take a seemingly blind alley, Paynes Place, on the left. Ignore the restaurant dustbins and turn left again. Peer in at the washing up through the kitchen doors of Chinese restaurants, turn right at the graffiti and follow the stencil art until you get to The Croft Institute (21-25 Croft Alley) on the right.
You can’t miss it because this really is a blind alley. You won’t find the best drinks in town, but this is one of Melbourne’s quirkiest venues, with its chemistry-lab chic. Upstairs the theme bizarrely turns to a hospital waiting area complete with a wheelchair and a hospital cot in the ladies’ loo.
Back down Little Bourke Street, past the hidden bars of Waratah Place linking Chinatown to the Greek precinct on Lonsdale Street, is Tattersalls Lane, home to a handful of ethnic restaurants and a very special bar.
It is dangerous to use the word unique but Section 8 (No.27-29) really is. This outdoor bar comprises two shipping containers (one is the toilet) plonked in a former carpark and heroin shooting gallery. Patrons sit on stacks of pallets, warmed by gas heaters. The tramps who used to sleep here have become de facto night watchmen.
I often continue down Little Bourke Street, across Elizabeth Street and turn left down an unpromising alleyway to Murmur (1/17Warburton Lane), which is up the decrepit flight of wooden stairs in a former coffee warehouse. The crane and trapdoor that were used for hauling up the sacks of coffee beans are all that separate patrons from the boxing gym below. Think bare wooden floors, a bar in the corner lit with crystal chandeliers and a good line in house cocktails.
www.movida.com.au
www.minirestaurant.com.au
www.fifteenmelbourne.com.au
www.italy1.com.au
www.ilsolitoposto.com.au
www.comme.com.au
www.barlourinha.com.au
www.becco.com.au
www.gingerboy.com.au
www.thecroftinstitute.com.au
www.murmur.com.au