Stokehouse

Melbourne, December 2014

What is a stokehouse? We came across this sister to the restaurant with the same name in Brisbane when dragging ourselves through the Melbourne alleys, too weak from fatigue and hunger to care. We never did find out, but it doesn’t matter. We spurned the packed, noisy bar for the upstairs restaurant which happened to be as packed and noisy but also light and airy. Virtually the only decorations are large chandeliers wrapped in string nets which we eventually decided we liked.

I had to try the peach gazpacho. It was disappointingly sans peach as far as I could tell and rather ordinary. P’s venison carpaccio was top notch. We both had the pumpkin, sage and amaretti ravioli which was already sweet without the addition of PX sherry. A shame. We saw our bearded, gentle waiter later sitting at a busstop looking disconsolate. Cheer up! Despite some quibbles, we found Stokehouse to be an impressive, lively place for lunch and we at least left feeling much better.