How many hotels make your bed with luxury Frette linen? And how many greet you the following day with the shoulder of a Portuguese suckling pig? Melbourne’s brand-new boutique hotel Melbourne Place is putting the final touches on its Friday 8 November debut. And with venerated restaurateurs Ross and Sunny Lusted and chef Nick Deligiannis in charge of the hotel’s dining programme, it’s shaping up to be every bit as delicious as it is comfortable.
Throwing open its doors at the Paris end of Russell Street in early November, Melbourne Place will feature three venues. Two of them, the lovechildren of Ross and Sunny Lusted (The Bridge Room, Woodcut), will be inspired by the food and drink of Portugal and Spain: Marmelo a 90-seater with its own private dining room, and Mr Mills, its companion basement bar. “Marmelo is a restaurant I have wanted to open for many years,” says Ross. It pays homage to the small restaurants and bars of the Iberian Peninsula, he says, and will “focus on showcasing the abundant resources of Melbourne markets as well as smaller Victorian producers”.
At Marmelo, that will mean starting with designer anchovies served à l’anglaise and crab pastéis de nata, before cracking into a menu that makes good use of Ross’s way with wood-fired cooking – grilled southern calamari with green coriander seeds and goat’s milk butter and chicken cooked over coals with African spices and dried chilli a couple of standouts. Its Portuguese influence runs right through to dessert, which will feature no shortage of egg custard and crisp pastry.
Downstairs, Mr Mills will ply its trade deeper into the evening with excellent cocktails, a wine list that draws from Victoria and beyond, and late-night suppers served in intimate booths. Grilled padrón peppers, poached tuna petiscos – Portuguese for tapas – and preserved angulas will get you started, while quail escabeche, baked cod with roasted onions and potatoes, and prawns cooked with garlic and burnt chilli will see you through till stumps.
Breakfast and brunch, meanwhile, takes place in Mid Air, and is set to sizzle at the celebrated hands of chef Nick Deligiannis, who returns to the city from a vaunted stint at Audrey’s in Sorrento. Good Food Guide’s Young Chef of the Year 2023, Deligiannis will be topping crumpets with spanner crab, poached eggs and brown butter hollandaise, and filling breakfast focaccia with fried eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, cheddar and tomato jam. Mid Air will also open for lunch, dinner and supper, nixing the focaccia in favour of oysters, lobster doughnuts, Giaveri Osietra caviar, and flatbreads brimming with crumbed King George whiting at night. Mid Air will also be behind the hotel’s in-room offering, ergo, oysters in bed.
Melbourne Place and Mid Air open for good times from Friday 8 November, with Marmelo and Mr Mills to follow suit shortly after. Whether it’s luxury crumpets for breakfast or wood-fired deliciousness a little later in the day, tasty things await at the top end of town. Welcome, Melbourne Place.
By Frank Sweet
Melbourne Place, 130 Russell St, Melbourne, open Friday 8 November, melbourneplace.com.au, @melbourneplace. For venue opening dates and details, follow @marmelorestaurant, @mrmillsbar and @midairmelbourne on Instagram.