Taxi Dining-Room

Ph: 9654 8808; Level 1, Transport, Federation Square, Swanston St cnr Flinders St, Melbourne 3000 www.transporthotel.com.au

Modern Australian, $$$, ** for Food & Ambience
Open 7 days noon-3pm 6-11pm; Licensed; AE DC MC V EFT
Chef Michael Lambie (5-12-08) Owner Sovereign Hotel Group (5-12-08)

Mietta's Review
You've got to hand it to Paul Mathis, not only is he incredibly good a picking trends and putting concepts together but when they don't quite click he adapts them till they do. Take Taxi, his first foray into fine dining, the architectural and aesthetic statement was unquestioned but it lacked that 'restaurant' something. Now, with Michael Lambie (ex-Circa) at the stoves the place has the food-press swooning. It's a very welcome addition to the sparsely populated ranks of Melbourne's top end restaurants and will be a very interesting restaurant to watch. 2005 has consolidated Taxi's place in the upper echelons of Melbourne dining

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 16/20 "Several years into an ownership change, the consistency at this brassy dining room is almost as refreshing as the space itself, a powerful architectural statement of optimism in Melbourne"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: * "A glorious light-box of a restaurant, Taxi's location - with views of the river and parks makes it an obvious destination for visitors. The food says a lot about the city, too, even if prices are more Sydney than Melbourne"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 17/20, Two Hats "Were Taxi really a car, it would be the latest model: snazzy, racy, convertible - to maximise the views - fully optioned-up and expensive"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: * "As a showcase for contemporary Australian dining, Taxi ticks all the boxes. Views: check"

Herald Sun Bob Hart, 21-04-07 "GREAT cities need destination restaurants - places that provide hungry, wealthy tourists with additional reasons to visit and flex plastic. And Taxi, positioned in the Melbourne landmark that is either an architectural triumph or a post-apocalyptic abomination, depending on your perspective, is such a place. It occupies, in great style, the first floor of the Transport Hotel and offers an incomparable view for two reasons: first, it overlooks the mighty Yarra while providing sneaky glimpses of our cityscape."

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 17/20, 2 Hats "When was the last time you shimmied past a bouncer on your way to dinner? Such has been the success of Transport, Melbourne's first new CBD pub in half a century, that some nights bouncers need to hold back the hordes. Push on f you're heading to Taxi, the soaring restaurant on level one where, through breaks in the building's steel-mesh skin, you'll glimpse the action on the river or at Flinders Street Station."

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide ** "With an almost relentless pursuit of improvement, Taxi has established itself as one of Melbourne's most exciting dining rooms since a mid-2004 relaunch. The dramatic space takes unique advantage ofan eyrie-like position with 270-degree views over Melbourne and Southbank. But everyone isjust as excited by the modern and daring food here, managed by British chef Michael Lambie"

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide Best views "Taxi Dining Room, with its unique first-level perspective on the Federation Square precinct of Melbourne's CBD and Yarra River, s the current must restaurant for any curious visitor. It helps considerably that Michael Lambie's modern, Japanese-inspired food is not only superb but every fair exemplar of contemporary Australian cooking."

Age John Lethlean August 05 "The speed and determination with which Paul Mathis set about rebuilding his new baby from the ground up provided Melbourne with one of its most extraordinary restaurant industry stories of recent years. Because Mathis not only fixed Taxi: he reinvented it as one of the great restaurants of Australia"

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 score 14/20 "WAS Paul Mathis tiring of his title of mass-production cafe king? On the evidence of Taxi, the answer is yes. This architecturally inspired dining room atop Mathis' Fed Square bar Transport has propelled him into restaurateur stardom. Taxi is brave, creative and exciting in most senses."

Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide * "Melbourne cafe king Paul Mathis has sorted his glamorous fine-diner with radical changes, including new chef Michael Lambie, ex Circa. It was a tough move, but a smart one. The city's most exciting new dining space, with views ofthe city and Southbank, now has food that, on the whole, matches the aesthetic."

The Age A2 22/1/05 Jane Faulkner"MICHAEL LAMBIE must be feeling a bit like a culinary pop star. Since taking over as executive chef at Taxi Dining Room five months ago, he's appeared in glossy magazines, foodie sections of newspapers, even his wedding to Victoria Wilson, cellar-door manager at Shadowfax winery, was a spread of seven pages in Delicious."

Herald Sun CityStyle Best of Melbourne 04 "Soaring walls of louvred glass take in a 180 view of Flinders St Station, the Arts Centre, the city's towers and, in the distance, the Westgate Bridge. Once hidden by the nasty old G and F Buildings, the outlook is dramatic"

Age To Go 17/7/04 Matt Preston "Restaurateur Paul Mathis has made his name with funky canteens such as Soulmama, Chocolate Buddha and the Blue Train Cafe. He is now dipping his toe into the fine dining waters, with mixed success."

The Age, Epicure,22/6/04,John Lethlean,Score 13/20,'Brave and modern,Taxi succeds as a Japanese restaurant,but broader ambitions expose its vulnerability.'

Herald Sun, citystyle, 6/7/04,Stephen Downes,Score 16/20,'What might sound like a dramatic fusion of Japanese and Australian culinary elements isn't as radical as you might think.Nonetheless,Taxi will serve you well-cooked, interesting dishes in an amiable and expert manner.The wine list is quite extensive, but also very expensive.'