Poodle Bar & Bistro — Restaurant in Melbourne

Must be joking Amazing that the food can be so bad. Chefs selection ? King fish Crudo was quite pleasant And that’s about it

The cheese puffs ? Too much bad cheese and over baked probably par baked beforehand like cutting into a tin can

The eel vol-au-vent? Better if they learned how to make pastry rather than using these past their use by date stuff

The potato brick? well that’s what it is. Really unpleasant

Next? Kingfish wings (well that’s what’s left over from the crudo) Grilled without the benefit of any smoke flavour and served with raw onion !

But then you get heirloom tomatoes with stale breadcrumbs and some white slop. While most of the other dishes were just poor This is probably the most offensive It takes some work to murder a good tomatoe Well poodle weed on it Amazing that anyone would think this a match

But wait theres more A leek tart in a swimming pool of vitamised sorrel How can u best suggest wet pastry with bad cheese a good combo?

Easy it appears at poodle

Desert? Cold curd in a cold bowl from the freezer With torched merangue Didn’t like that at all

But had a lovely nebiollo And asked for some Cheese as the cold desert was so unpleasant, Which they kindly bought

Trouble is the Comte tasted like it came from coles bargain shelf.

Paid and left Felt so bad about this trash for $500+ for 3 had to go back Complimented them on the lavender fizz pre dinner drink and the kingfish crudo and described the many and varied things that are just so not good enough and some just so bad when they just dont have to be.

To their credit they asked how they could fix it. Obviously they need the money to buy some quality produce and invest in dealing with it rather than relying on their bar to stay in business. Wait staff very pleasant. Perhaps they should shut the bistro and focus on...

This has got to be the best bistro we have been to in Melbourne. We were blown away by how delicious all the food was and this has to be our highest rated restaurant of 2024.

We ordered: Pink lady ($24) - this was a sweet cocktail and that’s exactly how I like it Montenegroni ($24) Oysters ($6.5) - oysters were really fresh and had a really nice tang House made spent coffee & rye sourdough, kefir butter ($8) - sourdough was really nice and the butter was really good with the sourdough Parmesan scroll ($8) - these were so unassuming but they were so damn good. We wanted to order more because they were delicious. Steak Tartare ($26) - this is not your usual steak tartare with the chips on the side but combined with the tarragon mayo & soy cured egg, it was so good. 500g cape grim club steak, cafe de poodle butter, fries ($100) - this had to be one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. The cafe de poodle butter was really flavourful and we dipped our fries into it. The steak was perfectly cooked to medium rare and was super soft and tender. Salt & vinegar onion rings ($11) - the batter on these onion rings were super light and they were coated really nicely in the salt and vinegar seasoning. I really enjoyed this. Asparagus ($13) - these had a really good tangy flavour. Mixed leaves ($11) - my partner ate this entire thing so I don’t know what it taste like but apparently it was good.

We would 100% come back. The vibes were immaculate. The food was really delicious and there is nothing we could really fault except for probably not having crisps or anything with the steak...

🕯️First time visiting Poodle Bar and would come again with a group. I came for dinner via tram, and I did struggle adjusting from the bright lights of the commute - don’t let the photos fool you - it is quite dark! While that would indicate it would make for a cosy date night spot, it’s far too loud. My partner received loud noise warnings on his watch while we were there - and I really struggled to hear his low voice over the crowd the entire evening.

🍽️ We were recommended to choose about six plates to share - we chose five, including the side, as neither of us was starving, and we felt quite full by the end of the evening. As a couple we were provided with the round bistro tables - while great for drinks and snack food, it does feel slightly overcrowded with more than one share plate (ie the larger plate with sides). Saying that - the staff did a great job at bringing out the starters one at a time.

🌟The stars of the evening were definitely the starters - the spanner crab profiterole and veal tongue pastrami. Both were really lovely, balanced taste parcels of joy. Texture was fantastic on both of them and they’ll continue to live rent free in my mind for awhile. The Camembert fondue was fun, with nice crisp veggies on the side to dip in.

🐄 We went with the scotch fillet with Roquefort - as a medium rare girl I did find it slightly underdone for my preference and the blue cheese was incredibly over powering. I’m not sure I’d necessarily choose this dish again.

Overall, some really lovely dishes and a fun atmosphere...