Melbourne Patron

Collingwood's newest 'it' place is another one hidden in the guts of the suburb. No shiny Smith Street lights for this dark horse. Le Bon Ton  (51 Gipps Street, Collingwood), which takes its name from an old-time New Orleans phrase, laissez les bon temps rouler ('let the good times roll'), is a curiously appealing mixture of the moodily subtle and brightly obvious. Owned by two American brothers, Will and Mick Balleau (old hospitality hands, with their Richmond venture Chingon ), and assisted in the kitchen by another two American brothers, Jeremy and Christopher Sutphin (ex- Fog ), Le Bon Ton is a venture in Belle  Èpoque- e ra romanticism. The décor is impressive: exposed brick walls, polished cement floors, a bar overlaid and finished with bright copper and wood panelling, ornate touches in upholstery and lighting, and an astro-turfed courtyard with beautifully-strung fairy lights (and she's SOLD!), with the operational smoke pit to one side. ...

There are some things you hear of and immediately think, 'Only in Melbourne!' Jafflechutes are one such thing. ...Jafflechutes, you say? What on earth are jafflechutes?! Well. Have you heard of jaffles? The toasted sandwiches that you make using an electric sandwich maker that squashes the sandwich's edges together, sculpts it so it kinda looks like a moulded cake, makes the outside all nice and toasty and crusty, and melts the cheese inside, so you end up with a hot, gooey, salty, hand-held piece of deliciousness? Now marry that with a parachute, and you have a jafflechute. Someone in this world not only had the amazing idea that a toasted sandwich could be thrown out a window attached to a parachute so it would float it down to its recipient, but then they actually put it into action. The someone was actually two people, Adam Grant and David McDonald, and the idea was born from Grant coming home one night having forgotten his keys. They were thrown down...