delicious.100: Southbank’s Rockpool Bar and Grill is one of Melbourne’s best restaurants.
With more than a decade under its belt, Rockpool Bar and Grill is perhaps Neil Perry’s finest achievement in Melbourne.
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CELEBRATING 10 years last month, Rockpool Bar and Grill is perhaps Neil Perry’s finest achievement in Melbourne.
What began as a “supercharged steakhouse’’ in 2006 has evolved into something grander and more versatile, a handsome club-like space where mighty meat is matched by sublime seafood, sensational salads, and some of the best desserts in town (passionfruit pavlova anyone?).
Ingredients are A1 all the way. Just look at Perry’s velvety folds of cured ocean trout — ornamented with red onion pickle and toasted brioche — or fillets of King George whiting from Corner Inlet, crisped to parchment-fine perfection.
Duck and lamb, silverside and sausage … they do it all here but beef is still the star. Cape Grim grass-fed rib eye on the bone pleases the power lunchers, while David Blackmore dry-aged wagyu skirt comes off Rockpool’s wood fired grill medium rare, scattered with sea salt and thickly sliced. Speck-studded “mac and cheese” on the side is essential.
The service (overseen by eagle-eyed manager Vanessa Crichton) is always correct, but never formal. And if you want to explore the awesome cellar, put yourself in the hands of sommelier Ashley Boburka who always knows how to excite the palate.
Perry has 10th anniversary plans to upgrade this big, masculine room but let’s hope he doesn’t glam it up too much. Right now, Rockpool Bar and Grill feels so right. So Melbourne.
Must eat dish: wood-fired skirt steak
Rockpool Bar and Grill
Crown Complex, Southbank.
Ph: 8648 1900
Cuisine: contemporary
Chefs: Neil Perry, Zac Nicholson
Price: more than $80 a person for two courses, food only
Bookings: yes
Open: Sun-Fri noon-3pm, daily 6pm-11pm
Instagram: @rockpoolgroup
This restaurant was ranked the 13th best restaurant in Victoria in the 2016 edition of the delicious.100.
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