Melbourne Patron

My Mum's meatballs are pretty awesome. Mine are... okay. Considering they are effectively just lumps of meat, it's hard to see how anyone could turn them into AMAZE-balls and make a whole restaurant out of them. But add Wine, and I'll give anything a go.* The original Meatball & Wine Bar on Flinders Lane opened roughly a year and a half ago (? CITATION NEEDED! -- oh shit, this isn't Wiki ) to a strong reception, and still seems to be going well. I have heard a few "Meh, it's okay"-s, but equally as many, if not more, positive responses, and was keen to sample these balls. (By the way, it's near impossible to write or talk about this place without sounding naughteeeeee... but you can have a lot of fun with it.) Fortunately, MWB recently opened a second venue at 105 Swan Street, Richmond - so close to my work, I had no more excuses not to play ball. (Okay, that was bad, sorry.) I don't know what the city venue's like, but the ...

Walking past the Boatbuilder's Yard  (23 South Wharf Promenade) in the past, I'd always been attracted by the chilled-but-buzzy vibe, timber overload (warm and inviting, don't you think?) and proximity to water (yep, that water thing again). A date gave me the opportunity to try it out on a school night, and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the night before, I hadn't slept a wink. Not only was this detrimental to my general social performance, but it also meant I wasn't in a great frame of mind to make blog-style judgements on the bar/pub venue. However, I will do my best in retrospect. Lots of timber I ordered the house bubbles, served up by friendly and relaxed-looking barmen. We sat outside - because that's what you do at a waterside venue - but it was an overcast day and the wind was whipping the awnings around beside us. This didn't detract a lot from the feeling of open-air-water-proximity I love, but after a while it was a bit fray...