Mirka At Tolarno

Ph: 9525 3088; 42 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 3182 www.mirkatolarnohotel.com

European, $$ +
Open 7 days 11am-10.30pm; Licensed; AE DC MC V
Chef Anthony Daugello & Dominic Marzano (7-11-07) Owner Grossi Family (7-11-07)

Other published opinions

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "Steak tartare. Oysters Rockefeller. Lobster mornay. Creme caramel. There is no denying the retro sensibility at Mirka at Tolarno Hotel and it's not only food that is touched by a 60schannelling brush"

The Age Dani Valent, 14-10-2008 "Of course he wants to serve good food in an appealing setting. But the underlying project of this restaurant is synthesis. There's the history: Mirka Mora lived and painted in this building from the mid-1960s; Grossi learnt to cook here under his father Pietro in the 1970s; now Guy Grossi's son Carlo is restaurant manager. There's the art: as well as Mora's murals there are rotating displays in the rear dining room. There's culture: Tolarno has been part of Melbourne for decades, in different guises, and a meal here connects us to a time when garlic was a storybook talisman and olive oil was sold in pharmacies. And there's the food."

Herald Sun 10-06-08 Score: *** "The spirit of its co-creator, Mirka Mora, still animates this place through her distinctive murals"

Herald Sun Eat, Simon Plant, 1-09-07 "LIKE a birthday cake with sparklers, Mirka Mora has a way of lighting up a room. Every few weeks, this extroverted artist saunters into the restaurant that bears her name and spreads giggly cheer into each muraled corner. "Mirka is electric," chef Anthony D'Augello says. -Everyone wants to meet her." Mirka and her late husband Georges started Tolarno bistro in the 1960s and offered - in the words of food scribe Bob Hart - ' 'a seductive mix of racy French dishes, determined bohemianism, and fine art""

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "With a wad of money and a garnish of nostalgia, the restaurant at Tolarno Hotel has been reborn as a kind of quintessentially Australian homage to the glory days of Continental dining"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "Guy Grossi's stewardship at the new beaut Mirka at Tolarno sees marvellous mod renovations and a menu to match this bistro with provenance"

The Age John Lethlean, 24-5-2007 "There is a sense of joy and continuity in the Mirka dining room, especially at night when, after a couple of drinks, all those cherubs (old and new) seem to be saying something special, just to you. Despite the refit - the poinsettia-red leather banquettes, timber flooring, acoustic ceiling, the broad timber tables, the window shades with yet more Mora work - the old dining room still feels, well, old, part of something with provenance. The restaurant has been fitted out cleverly; instead of the cookie-cutter accessories every new bistro seems to open with, Mirka has a sense of classic hotel dining-room style: monogrammed plates, bone-handled cutlery, a menu that looks like it came out of some middle-ranking London hotel circa 1960."

Herald Sun Stephen Downes, 27-03-07 Score: 13/20 "Mirka at Tolarno Hotel is bound to become a business lunchspot. For the rest ofus, its fame (and sister Florentino's place in the pantheon of Melbourne restaurants) means we can decide whether or not to pay for a sense of belonging. Simply put, there is better and cheaper Italian (and French) food in town. The long and representative wine list is expensive: eight table whites, a rose and eight table reds available by the glass."

The Age John Lethlean, 26-3-2007 Score: 15/20 "It's an unpretentious menu of well-thought-through dishes that are about eating and drinking and talking, not intellectualising. And, despite a few early hiccups - we experienced some serious aberrations with salt here first time round - the food is lovely. It's the best word, really."