From the new The Age Good Food Guide 2011, our countdown of the 10 most iconic Melbourne dining experiences.
They’re the places you’d send an out of towner, the places you’re happy to go to again and again. Some have been around for decades, some are fresh new arrivals on the dining scene. But they’re all quintessentially Melbourne. On August 30, The Age Good Food Guide 2011 will be launched at a gala awards night at Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria. In the lead up, we'll bring you a sneak preview, day by day, of ten top restaurants that the new guide considers “Essential Melbourne”. Chosen by the panel of five who decide the Guide’s annual awards, they’re the restaurants that help make Melbourne dining unique.
#3.
Grossi Florentino
80 Bourke Street, City 9662 1811
One of Melbourne’s grandest and most gorgeous dining rooms, Grossi’s Mural Room has been the city’s go-to spot for greeting card occasions since the 1920s. So if your horse won the Melbourne Cup, (and we mean the horse you own, as much as the one you bet on), this is where you’d celebrate. The Mural Room has long appealed to captains of industry and political powerbrokers, as it does also to families celebrating significant birthdays and anniversaries. The murals depict historical scenes of Italian life, and add to the timber-panelled grandeur. Guy Grossi and family bought the place in 1999, beginning its latest grand chapter. His Italian menu ranges from fancy to big-hearted, and it can be as modern as some of the restaurant’s flourishes are old-fashioned (waiters cluster to sing “Happy Birthday”, ladies’ handbags are carefully placed on purpose-built stools beside their chairs). Such things come at a price, but in the words of our reviewer: “Diners are either rich, famous, or feel like they are.” Bravo!
Tomorrow, Essential Melbourne Eating # 2
#4 Izakaya Den
#5 Gill's Diner
#6 Flower Drum
That's rich...Grossi Florentino is grand without being austere.Credit: Gary Medlicott
#8 Cookie
#9 Taxi Dining Room
#10 St Ali
Check out The Age Good Food Guide Awards finalists here.
Compiled from The Age Good Food Guide 2011, on sale at bookstores from 31 August. Available to pre-order New edition available soon online or as an App for the Blackberry or iPhone.
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