Beverly review 2023: Kara Monssen visits South Yarra rooftop bar
It’s already the place to be seen on the scene (if you can get a booking) with million-dollar views and Chapel St clique to match — so is Melbourne’s newest rooftop worth the hype?
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“OMG, this is sooooo LA,” squeals the group on the next table.
They’re not wrong.
Minus Melbourne’s wind chill – maybe add a Kardashian or three – and the resemblance of South Yarra’s hot new rooftop bar, Beverly, is uncanny.
One month in and it’s already the place to be seen on the scene (if you can get a booking) with million-dollar views and Chapel St clique to match.
Spending $14 on a schooner or $21 for cake would be a drop in the ocean for Beverly’s deep-pocketed regulars – but that won’t keep me from coming back.
I could laze on one of those sofas all day, rosé on ice and inhaling hot chips, keeping that ‘Influencers in the Wild’ account afloat watching the kids clamour for the best sunset snap. Those views make it hard not to join in.
Why not spread the pay cheque thin with a bottle of vintage champers, Chablis or work your way through the cocktail or sake list? Because the Bev, perched on the top floor of glam Goldfields House on the river-end of Chapel St, is the place to do it.
This truly is a gorgeous space.
A moody entry blushing with warm pink and peach stone walls opens to a sprawling sun-soaked sea of green pinstriped lounges, pastel tables and terrazzo floors.
Open-air tables make prime real estate on sunny days, yet in the late autumn eve, wind pinballs off the walls — thank goodness for that stadium-like retractable glass roof for Melbourne-proofing the space.
Chef David Ball (Dominique Portet, Hobart’s The Glass House) also channels those Cali vibes — and prices — with his food.
You may start with ruby bluefin tuna tiles ($28) wrapped in pickled daikon or swiped in tamari or wasabi.
With smart leather coasters for drinks, it’s also puzzling that there are no chopsticks for sashimi.
The two-bite lobster cannoli ($12) is more promising, a crunchy force of parmesan and sweet meat, though I prefer those golden nuggets of mac ‘n’ cheese ($14 for three) messy with gouda bechamel and truffle.
The Bev’s sourdough ($6) and its ‘secret’ version of Cafe de Paris butter, is also worthy — and makes a return cameo oozing over wagyu rump from the grill.
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It’s the most affordable steak of the lot; prices soaring as high as $150 for half a kilo of ribeye and $75 per kilo for a whole rotisserie chook, shared between two.
I can’t remember the last time I spent $52 on pasta, either. While a whole marron lazes atop of that inky, squiggly pile; there are no tools to get into those fat pinchers, plus I’d like a little more salt and depth to justify the price.
The South Yarra tax gets silly with desserts — all $21 and our chocolate terrine was small — but when you look out at the packed room, beaming with youth and joy, it’s clear nobody’s here for that.
Some of Beverly’s dishes could do with a fine tune and price rethink, but it sure didn’t stop me from planning a return visit.
A space warm in service, ambience and unmatched city views — it sure beats the trip to Hollywood.
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