Bodacious Bovine – Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne

Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne was the first restaurant on a recent culinary tour that took in Bangkok, Cambodia and of course Melbourne. Its other half, Rockpool Bar & Grill Sydney is a romantic favourite with several significant milestones experienced there under the influence of good wine and great food.

Located on the Southbank riverfront and in the Crown Casino mega entertainment precinct, Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne is a luxurious experience that makes you wish you earned more so you could dine there on a whim. It is part of the highly awarded Rockpool Group headed up by Australian Chef (you may have heard of him) Neil Perry. Their specialty is big, beautiful and bodacious bovine cooked every which way in a high end ‘steakhouse’ atmosphere.

On this occasion, I steered away from my beloved beef and looked to the sea to test a theory. Regardless of a restaurant’s specialty, if it’s on the menu it should be great.

The wooden entrance is unassuming and takes you through a narrow, dark corridor until you are greeted with a little pomp before being lead to your table. Since I was a lone warrior this rainy evening, I had a table for one in a corner nook, which suited me perfectly.

The menu is a tome and split in to ‘Cold bar’,’ Salad and other cold things’, ‘Hot starters’, ‘Main plates’, ‘Beef from the wood fired grill’, ‘From the wood fired rotisserie’, ‘Sides’ and ‘Side salads’. Special mention must go to the most extensive list of ‘Sides’ I’ve ever seen on a menu (13 in total).

The food was everything I hoped for with the ‘4 Tastes of the Sea’ an elegantly plated set of fresh and sweet sashimi that was worth the $35. The Grilled King Prawns ($35) were split and marinated to perfection without killing the sweetness of the crustaceans. With great restraint, I didn’t order another main dish so I could try ‘Chocolate rice crackle with coffee mousse and hazelnuts’ ($23). It was as delectable as it sounds with little bit of nostalgia thrown in for good measure.

Rockpool Bar & Grill Sydney set the bar high for this visit and its Melbourne counterpart did not disappoint. From the enveloping after-dark atmosphere, to the extensive cater-for-all menu and excellent wait staff, Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne stands on its own.

Whilst it may be bovine in nature, it’s dip into the sea was as delicious and proved my theory correct.