The new dining room is the cherry on top of the New Zealand fashion label’s global flagship.
The Lodge Dining Room is the cherry on top of the New Zealand fashion label Rodd & Gunn’s four-storey global flagship in Melbourne. The precinct includes a shiny retail shopfront on Little Collins Street and beneath it the Cellar & Caffetteria, the subterranean wine bar and bottle shop with cocktails curated by Matt Bax (Bar Americano) and a snackable, shareable Italian menu.
The Dining Room incorporates not only the restaurant, but a moody bar one level down, also helmed by Bax. Chef James Evangelinos is offering a menu that focuses on technique-driven, French-influenced fine dining with mostly classic flavours. Meals start with the old-school European hospitality of complimentary bread, featuring several bakes of the day centred around a lofty brioche loaf glazed in caramel.
The $75-a-head fruits de mer is essentially a table-blanketing seafood course, a selection of raw and creatively cooked bites such as moreish abalone croquettes. Beyond, find gently poached Shark Bay scallops with charred white asparagus and a liquid-nitrogen-charged almond dressing spooned on tableside. Sweet marron is served in a delicately flavoured marron bisque alongside a roulade of summer squash.
Mains include an ember-roasted kohlrabi dish with wild greens and a pecan emulsion, and a deconstructed bouillabaisse where roasted bass grouper is the star. Finish with the handcrafted chocolate bons bons. Diners can order a la carte or choose from a three-course prix fixe for $145, or six- or nine-course tasting menus for $155 and $255 each.
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