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Melbourne Wine Room
Ph: 9525 5599; The George Hotel, 125 Fitzroy St, ST KILDA 3182 www.melbournewineroom.com
Italian, $$ +
Open Tue-Thu 3pm-late Fri-Sun noon-late; Licensed; AE DC MC V
Chef Kylie Lonergan & Karen Martini (5-12-08) Owner Marino Angelini, Karen Martini, Michael Sapountsis & Marcus Ellis (5-12-08)
Mietta's Review
aren Martini is back from Sydney and overseeing the Wine Room food which continues to charge accordingly. Eating is split between the noisy busy bar and this slightly strange dining room made up of two small rooms knocked together with a ceiling so high the space seems unbalanced. It feels very removed from the life and action out front. The rather uncomfortable marriage between the Wine Room's two faces is held together by the cooking and the service. It is more fun to eat in the bar but the quality of the food sits uncomfortably with the busy, buzzing area. As you would expect the wine list is good.
Other published opinions
Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 15/20 "Since 1996, this moody salon has been one of Melbourne's best-loved and most reliable finedining rooms, valued for its enthusiastic approach to wine, exemplary Italian-ish food and smooth service"
Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: * "Karen Martini Whether it's the buzzy, so-very-Melbourne front bar or the moody dining room out back, the dining experience at the George Hotel is always a joy. The waiters are switched on and cheerful, the wideranging wine list is impressive (lots of local and European bottles listed here) and at the heart of it all is Karen Martini's modern but comforting Italian cooking"
Herald Sun Extra Food, Bob Hart, 29-07-08 Score: *** "Nestled in the George this restaurant turns out delectable i food from both its ban and restaurant menus"
Herald Sun Eat, Bob Hart, 4-08-07 "Mercifully, the old pub - renamed the George in 1868 - is still there, but no longer offering -unparalleled views of the shipping in Hobsons Bay", as it boasted then. It would be fair to say, however, that it now offers food of a quality undreamed of in those days: it is a living, breathing (but non-smoking) reminder of the way we were, with tucker from the way we are. ... it was in that bar - rather than the adjacent, more refined restaurant - that a mate and I chose to eat lunch last week, ordering from the bar and restaurant menus, as diners are welcome to do."
Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "The Wine Room, as it's universally known, is a rollicking Gen-X icon of carefree style. And the small dining room out back, with its mirrors, table lamps, Venetians filtering the outside world and Italian chandeliers illuminating the distressedplaster, is all about light and shade"
Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "The Melbourne Wine Room presents a dilemma; whether to stick to the front ban with its bustling conviviality augmented by a wine list boasting European and Australian boutiques, or head to the smallish bistro, where terrazzo floors, striking chandeliers and agedmirrored wall make a stylish salon"
The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20, 1 Hat "It's a noisy, balmy, beery, smoky night in the front bar at the Melbourne Wine Room, but out back it's all cool and subdued, illuminated (if that's the word) by lights that glow like a planktonic organism from the deep. The silvery patina of an antique mirror reinforces the feel of being somewhere maritime in the moonlight."
Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "This simple and intimate room is a world away from the adjoining bar in the George - and several hundred decibels quieter. That said, you're pretty close to your neighbours, chiefly local twenty-somethings, so keep the conversation sotto voce. Clientele may be casual, but there's nothing casual about the linen, the glassware, or the food"
Herald Sun Dining Out Simon Plant 21/6/05 Score 16/20 "Nearly 10 years after it began blazing a trail for good food and wine in St Kilda, the Melbourne Wine Room is still generous and gently priced. Service rarely misses a beat and the list of wines by the glass is one of the best in town. A stylesetter that just gets better with age."
The Age Good Food Guide 2005 score 15/20 One Hat "IT seems that Melbourne Wine Room's dining area has captured the essence of Melbourne itself: quietly stylish, comfortable, discreet, with a neat balance between professional worldliness and individual personality. Regulars pop in for a main and choof off. Soon-to-be regulars linger and make close study of a smart carte that does a fine interpretation of modern Italian"
Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide "A superior wine bar and restaurant downstairs at the grand old George Hotel in fashionable St Kilda, with Karen Martini back as executive chef, fine-tuning the modern Mediterranean menu"
The Age,A2,12/6/04,John Weldon,'slip through the bar into the classy and calm dining room and you leave all notions of uncultered enjoyment behind.'
The Age Good Food Awards 2004 1 hat, score 15/20, excellent wine list,excellent bar
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004, 1 Black Star, Excellent wine list,'The food is simpler and less ambitious than was once the case, though still with Italian/Middle Eastern accents laid over a modern sensibility...Service and wine, as always, are beautifully handled...The wine room is a stylish and affordible option.'
The Age, Epicure, Restaurants, 1/4/03, John Lethlean, Score 15/20
Herald Sun, Food&Wine, Stephen Downes, Dining Out, 19/11/02, Score 16/20
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