Melbourne City

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Marmelo – Melbourne, City – Saturday 8 March 2025 – Dinner

Marmelo

Portughese

130 Russell St Melbourne VIC 3000
Mon–Wed 6:30am–11pm; Thu 6:30am–9pm; Fri 6:30am–11pm; Sat–Sun 7am–12am
(03) 7035 2999
www.marmelorestaurant.com.au
Reviewed 8-Mar-25

Once a year it is tradition for the boys to go out for a fancy dinner following the races on the March long weekend, formerly known as Super Saturday. In fact, it is such a tradition that referring it to as “the boys” was once quite reasonable, but now it is better monikered as “the gents”. We’ve had some beauties! Memorable meals, and memorable moments; some even infamous.

When a group of men turn up to a restaurant for dinner there is a different mannerism that comes from the entire service experience, from the greeting, to the banter during dinner, to the ending, which has been fuzzy in our memory on occasion. Tonight it is almost all positive, with a nice pace and vibe to the evening. Marmelo is definitely a good place for a group.

We arrived early and went below to try the bar, Mr Mills. We already knew we were in for an expensive evening, and the drink prices at Mr Mills confirmed our expectation. Somehow, there is no cucumber downstairs or upstairs, so Chef immediately took off a point, but lime in a Hendricks is fine in any case. My Voyager Chenin Blanc was a nice cleansing start after several beers and champagnes at the races.

Once upstairs, by now we were technically a little late, but for some reason we still had to wait a bit longer for our table. Any minor complaints about the evening ended here, as the forthcoming food, drinks, and service were all terrific. We had some epic starters like the Murray cod croquette that is sure to be a continual feature, to the utterly divine spanner crab tart. The Portuguese offerings pack plenty of flavour given the star ingredient of the tart is known for its subtlety; the prominence of the spanner crab showing excellent technique in the kitchen.

Turning to one of the themes in this restaurant, fire takes centre stage upon the delicate skin of calamari, and elevating it to greatness as a result. Alongside, the Skull Island prawns are diced in an acorda (diced bread, coriander, garlic, and egg), with scallops, and pipies. It’s nice, and it’s different, but out of the dishes for the evening it is my least favourite.

Washing these dishes down to begin is a grape variety that I have not tried to my knowledge before. This Encruzado comes from the Dao region of Portugal, and is by Impecavel. It is vibrant and versatile with the starters and entrees, and thoroughly enjoyable. Next we turn towards an equally versatile Italian red for the mains, which is luscious, in the form of Centanni Rosso, consisting of Sangiovese and Montepulciano.

The mains were all impressive. The highlight was the O’Connor rib eye. Thoroughly seasoned, licked by the flame, and every bite was melting in my mouth. I could give or take the peppers with it, but they were nice enough. The Kurobuta pork promised to be just as tender, and it certainly was. This must be the best value offering on the menu. Throw in a delightfully cooked fig, and you have a wonderful pig and fig dish.

Last but not least, the wood roasted cockerel reminds us of the impact the Portuguese can have on perfectly cooked chicken, that in some people’s eyes is closely on the border line to undercooked. The result is juicy deliciousness. I had enjoyed so much food that sides were not a priority, but special mention to the chickpeas and spinach which Jarrod rated as one of his favourite dishes of the night. The potatoes, while perfectly cooked, didn’t need the sauce, making for a soft texture when some crunch would have been appreciated.

It was time for dessert, and even with a generous amount of food through the savoury courses, we were ready to get stuck in. Chef Simon and I shared the wood fired olive oil cheesecake. It was big and rich, and could easily satisfy four people having a taste of dessert. We also had a “pastels de nata” which was the most delicious and most overpriced Portuguese custard tart you can imagine at $16. I guess you need some give and take!

Guy loved his tiny chocolate cup with house made ginja berry liqueur and Amarena cherries, and Jarrod also enjoyed the “Textures of milk”. Some Malvasia Madiera hit the spot with dessert, as a further nod to Portuguese wine (this time one of its autonomous regions). Needless to say we were all pleased with a tremendous dinner, not least of all Simon who had picked the restaurant for this year’s edition of our traditional catch up.

Marmelo
https://www.marmelorestaurant.com.au
130 Russell Street, Melbourne
Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner
03 7035 2999
@marmelorestaurant

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Parcs – Melbourne, City – Saturday 18 May 2024 – Dinner

Parcs Permanently closed
113 Flinders Lane Melbourne VIC 3000
Closed
Reviewed 18-May-24
This venue has permanently closed. This review is retained as a personal record of the dining experience at the time of writing.

Admitting that I’m confused about a tasting menu is not something I would ordinarily like to do. I feel I need to, as Parcs is the kind of place where what you’re eating makes sense, until you try to begin writing about it.

This is a tiny restaurant by CBD standards. I counted 22 chairs if you include the barstools, making for a warm and intimate room. Only a handful of staff is possible in such a small venue, and the concentration makes for excellent service. This is a model I really like.

The floor staff are complimented by the executive chef, Damien Neylon, who delivers around half of your courses. He’s not one to embellish but you can tell the pride and the deep consideration behind what is on your plate. The level of care extends to a wine list that is exemplary.

There is a strong and intentional theme here at Parcs. It’s new and with that comes a high degree of learning, which I believe will only make the menu stronger from this point. It is not perfect, but there are many excellent dishes, and no poor ones. The staff don’t speak about the theme of sustainability a great deal. Perhaps talking too much about sustainability would take away from the excellence in the ingredients and their treatment by the kitchen. I find the balance impressive.

An example of ingenuity comes in the form of beetroot that is treated like gravlax. There’s a familiarity in the snack though the beetroot itself is quite unique. Another highlight is sweet potato that somehow tricks the mind into thinking it is salmon. The crustacean sauce is incredibly delicious, and the accompaniments are novel, but somehow work. Those accompaniments are potato with bonito cured in juice pulp placed on top, in between lying the green leftover pulp that was used (direct from the local juice store), and some fermented potato, honey and garlic bread.

Even with the substantial amount of food there was no way I was leaving any of that potato bread, and we finished the savoury courses with beautifully cooked cockerel (young male chicken). At this stage there was equally no way I was leaving any of the substantial final course in the form of imperfect strawberries and rhubarb. The flavour packed strawberries must come into the kitchen resembling an ugly duckling, before they are marinated, and used to generously cover an oat meringue, with plenty of kefir cream thrown into the mix, along with kombucha scoby, which is the starter for turning sweetened tea into kombucha. There is a genuinely exceptional degree of experimentation here, and it rarely doesn’t deliver.

One dish that didn’t work for me, but was still enjoyable, was the tuna cured in bull kelp. It didn’t fall apart with that tenderness you often experience with high quality tuna, and the diced belly was not as flavoursome as I would expect. What did work for me was the wines we were trying. As if teasing me to try each wine by the glass, they seemed to be one-upping themselves. From a superb Aligote by Dubois Bernard et Fils, to a deeper and softer Chenin by Bobinet, followed by a Gamay by Chateau Cambon which is such an underrated varietal when well made, finishing with a Petit-Roy Pinot Noir from Burgundy. These are unashamedly fine French wines, well sourced by the restaurant, and all in keeping with the sustainability theme.

I feel like I’ve raved about Parcs. I believe it will get even better than the experience Catherine and I enjoyed. It would be great if it was just a little bit bigger for a casual wine and snack, but I think that is not the point. There is meaning and thought here, and the theme doesn’t dull the offering. In fact, the inventiveness feels like it partly relies on the limitations presented, and the intention to be completely seasonal and sustainable.

Parcs
https://parcs.com.au
198 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Phone +61(3)99727015
info@parcs.com.au