12 of Melbourne s best private dining rooms for group bookings
Carrie Hutchinson
Photo: Supplied
Special occasions and long overdue catch-ups deserve a touch of class. And you re in luck because we ve rounded up 12 of Melbourne s best private dining rooms.
Melbourne seems to have come alive again. The streets are pumping on the weekend, but if you re catching up with a crowd your booking ducks need to be in a row. Two-hour seating times, limits on numbers inside venues and the dreaded end-of-evening bill can all make a fun time turn feral.
The solution: hire a private space in a favourite restaurant, gather loved ones and tell them this is how you re all rolling.
Maha Bar and Tulum host guest chefs with one-off modern Middle Eastern menus
Gemima Cody
Photo: Diego Ramirez
It seems that after a year of lonely lockdowns, chefs can t wait to get back to collaborating with their peers.
Restaurateur Shane Delia is about to launch a series celebrating Middle Eastern cuisine at Maha Bar, the Collingwood venue he opened to acclaim immediately before the pandemic struck.
Over four Tuesdays starting May 18, the restaurant will host chefs from across the country, including Queenslanders Ben Williamson and Adam Wolfers, both with history at
Gerard s Bistro, Paul Farag of Sydney s
Nour, and former
Seven silver linings from Victoria s lockdowns: How chefs and restaurateurs made the pandemic work for them
Dani Valent
Photo: Eddie Jim
It was the year that pushed the state s restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs to the brink. But bright spots have emerged that may change dining forever.
A year ago, a few weeks into our national COVID-19 lockdown, Victorian hospitality operators were already hoping to use pandemic-enforced disruption as an opportunity to create permanent, positive adjustments to an industry that has been notoriously tough on bodies, minds and balance sheets. A year and a couple more lockdowns later, the state is open, eating and – in some pockets at least – thriving.
Chefs share 12 tips to lift your salad game goodfood.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from goodfood.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Middle Eastern restaurant Bar Saracen to close in Melbourne s CBD
Roslyn Grundy
Photo: Supplied
Melbourne CBD favourite Bar Saracen has announced it will close on January 30, almost three years after opening.
In a post on Instagram, owner Joseph Abboud (who also owns Rumi and the Moor s Head) said the effects of COVID-19 on trade at the top end of the CBD, including the loss of international guests, city workers and passing foot traffic, had left the restaurant in a precarious financial situation.
When Abboud opened in the Punch Lane site in March 2018 – originally in partnership with front-of-house pro Ari Vlassopoulos – he set out to create an experience more refined than at his 15-year-old Brunswick restaurant Rumi.