Featuring: New Quarter, Little Prince Wine Bar, The Barrel Room…

MELBOURNE is managing the ‘Covid-normal’ world in which we all exist. While the CBD slowly creeps back to a new way of operating – think gentle hum rather than its former chaotic buzz – dining rooms across our fair city are full, Melbourne diners are staying true to their reputation as lovers of good food, great wine and new venues.
New Quarter in Richmond is one of those venues. The most recent addition to the stable owned by The Commune Group, who also own Hanoi Hannah and Tokyo Tina, among others, this moodily lit dining room serves food with a contemporary Vietnamese twist.
Chicken croquettes are beautifully seasoned and served with ‘Laughing Cow’ cream cheese and Yarra Valley Salmon roe. It’s a texture bomb of pop and ooze and we want to go back for more.
The Banh Mi finger is a slim sandwich packed with chicken liver paté, crispy chicken skin and pickled baby cucumbers, a fun snack concept.
The beef tartare doesn’t deconstruct but rather restructures a classic with the diced raw beef served next to egg yolk with an earthy beef pho jelly and anchovy tapioca crisps.
Prawn wontons, beef ribs with burnt chilli and charred betel leaf and red curry of crispy pork belly and tamarind caramel are just some of the larger plates. Service is relaxed and professional in the room with an industrial edge by designer Ewert Leaf and agency Space Between, regular collaborators of Commune Group.
Come for the food, stay for the cocktails.
New Quarter, Ground Level, 79 Swan St, Richmond. Phone (03) 8391 1388.
St Kilda has had a rough few years; rising rents and then a pandemic but look closely and good things are happening. The much-loved Prince Hotel on Fitzroy Street recently opened Little Prince Wine Bar – in the basement space that was home to Mink Bar in its early days and many incarnations since – and it’s a welcome addition to the neighbourhood.
This charming Euro-inspired wine bar offers a hug of comfort as you enter. Breathe out the busy day and settle in to be presented with one of Melbourne’s most exceptional wine cellars. Curated by The Prince Hotel’s sommelier, Laurent Rospars, he has put together a range of local and international wines of extraordinary breadth and depth, showcasing years of experience and expertise. The collection possesses more than 4000 varieties.
Food choices are equally accomplished, with inspiration from across Australia and European styles that include an impressive array of cheeses, cured meats and charcuterie. There are just-shucked oysters, escargots with garlic butter (of course), pork terrine with spiced prunes, bresaola for days or a luscious wedge of Le Marquis Chèvre du Pélussin dressed in walnut oil.
Little Prince Wine also boasts a sizable communal table, ideal for groups, in addition to private dining rooms.
Little Prince Wine Bar, Ground Floor, The Prince Hotel, 2 Acland St, St Kilda. Phone (03) 9536 1175.

The doors have opened on La Madonna, an understated restaurant and bar set on the third floor of the new Next Hotel in the CBD.
It’s not your typical hotel restaurant with acclaimed Melbourne chefs, Daniel Natoli and Adrian Li at the helm, expect ever-evolving menus that celebrate seasonal produce and their distinctly separate culinary heritage – Italian and Chinese respectively – presented with creativity and generosity.
Some dishes already have people talking; ox heart tomato compressed in white soy, stuffed with stracciatella, sits in a bath of basil and yuzu kosho oil; a bar snack of skewered and grilled ox tongue is dressed with a bonito glaze and salsa verde; tender dry-aged duck or the hand-rolled cavatelli with black sesame and Skull Island prawns are all proving popular.
Natoli and Li share a friendship that includes opening and working together in several well-known venues (Donovan’s, Neptune Food & Drink, Tokyo Tina, Saigon Sally, Rina’s) and are single-minded about creating a new style of dining experience for locals and hotel guests alike.
A centrepiece of the third floor space is The Barrel Room where barrel maturation, an Australian-first in scale, takes place under the watchful eye of Spirits Master Phil Smithers. He carefully chooses spirits, cocktails and herbal liquors to be laid down in old and new barrels and explores the outcome in the glass.
The result is a delightful drinking experience, where guests can watch selections be decanted, explore and compare results, request something be barrel-aged, or arrange one of eight sought after seats for a more immersive encounter. Small quantities of signature hotel-aged and bottled cocktails will be available to take home, and also feature in the hotel’s mini bar.
Next Hotel, La Madonna and The Barrel Room, 103 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000. Phone (03) 9118 3352.