Melbourne Patron

Want Melbourne Patron blog posts delivered straight to your inbox? Click the "Subscribe" button at the top of this page and follow the simple instructions. Magic! Bistro Gitan Elegant French in friendly refined surroundings I'd heard the name Jacques Reymond since moving to Melbourne ten years ago, and always assumed I'd eat at one of his restaurants. He closed his solo doors in 2014 before I got around to it, but along with L'Hotel Gitan in Prahran, he remains involved with  Bistro Gitan (52 Toorak Road West, South Yarra), jointly operated by three of his children. Ever since a soul-changing meal in the south of France with my family on my first trip to Europe, I have enjoyed partaking in a decent bit of French food. I was particularly looking forward to the dinner date my partner had booked, knowing the restaurant's location opposite Fawkner Park in the elegant, leafy part of South Yarra would only add to its feel of an exclusive treat. ...

The shops along Domain Road, South Yarra have a reputation for being a bit posh. It is South Yarra, after all, and the majority are cafes and restaurants that take advantage of their location (opposite Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens ) by providing some outdoor seating. Apparently The Real Housewives of Melbourne even frequent one or two venues along the strip. A little further down the road, on the corner of Millswyn Street, Entrec ô te (131-133 Domain Road, South Yarra) is having a party of its own - still refined, but with a little more colour and personality. In operation as a Parisian-style steak bistro since January 2015, the restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week in the former site of the infamous  Lynch's Restaurant . Business partners Jason McLaren Jones and Adam North developed the idea when they bumped into each other in Paris in late 2014. They took a meal together at the institutional  Le Relais de L'Entrec ô te : a no-booki...

As I was moving out of the area, I made a few nostalgic brunch visits to one of my favourite cafes, Three Bags Full (60 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford). It was on one of these visits that I picked up a postcard advertising French dinners at the very same venue. Two of the cafe's chefs, Nicolas Toll é  and Fabien Laville (better known as Nico and Fab), are French expats who came up with the clever idea to use the cafe's space by night to stage dinners showcasing their talents as chefs with French-inspired dishes. Two handsome young French men cooking me food with the novelty of a setting I only knew by day? Sold! It turned out to be a girls' dinner on Thursday 11 December 2014. Four of us met at 8pm (sadly the only booking time left - we were quite starving on arrival! luckily there was bread) among the quiet hum of chatter and clinking glassware. There were no great changes in the cafe's layout, however the tables were laid with floral fabric placemats, ...

Good cafes are few and far between in Melbourne's CBD, so it is unsurprising that The Hardware Societe (120 Hardware Street, Melbourne) has created such a loyal following. Its name is regularly mentioned in foodie circles and it is often recommended to visitors. Having never set foot in the joint, I tried it for the first time this September, when my Dad and a business associate of his were in town. Perhaps it was the effect of all the hype - or I've been spoilt for choice by the hordes of excellent cafes in Melbourne - but although I found The Hardware Societe good, it wasn't amazing. Its location has obviously contributed to The Hardware Societe's success - halfway down a traffic-free laneway, bang in the middle of town, allowing for its regular queues to spill onto the street. I arrived at 9.45am on a Saturday to put our name on the list. The others arrived at 10am and we were seated by about 10.10am. Twenty-five minutes' wait... not too bad for such a rev...