Melbourne Patron

*This venue is now closed*  I'd been looking forward to this dinner for a long time - not only for the company, but also because I was keen to try Mercy Bar + Eatery (31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne), formerly known as Virginia Plain (see my previous blog post here ). PINK ! In its former state, I'd tried the degustation with matching wines and been quite impressed. Word on the street was that, although Mercy Bar is still run by the same crew (owned by Marco Santucci, with Andy Harmer as chef and Mat Beyer running front-of-house), it was revamping in response to what the people wanted: a more casual eatery, with a 'less austere' ambience. It's still a great venue, but I'm not sure it has hit its mark just yet. Sure, it's a little more colourful, with street-style art by Steve Cross and touches of bright neon lighting, but I was expecting more bar, less eatery - well, less 'restaurant' style eatery, anyway. I was kinda disappointed to ...

*Virginia Plain is now closed.* So I completely forgot to take pics this night. At least publishable ones that don't have my friend's face in the middle. But that's okay, because this place is worth blogging about, even without pictures. One of my best friends and I have a regular catch-up, and this one fell the week before Christmas, so we decided to make an event of it and try the much-hyped new kid on the Flinders Lane block, Virginia Plain (31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne). We were early, so went for a drink first at Tazio Birraria & Pizzeria on the corner of Flinders Lane and Exhibition Street. We sat on the upstairs balcony, which was far less sleazy-old-man-filled than the downstairs section, and had a lovely glass of Prosecco. When we got to the restaurant, I almost walked right past. It's so unassuming-looking. It is literally next door to Cumulus , which might make it easier for me to find it in future... I had booked for the $75 pp degustation men...