Vinesmith City Cellar Door — Restaurant in Melbourne

At the corner of Spring st and Flinders Lane, Vinesmith is a small piece of heaven where you can literally retreat, pause and find time for yourself. No one rushes you to consume, neither are you consciously rushing yourself to leave because of the next sitting. There is none, thank to the vision of the team running this beautifully decorated space with walnut tree tables and tops, and soft appeasing lighting. The wines on offer are selected from only three producers/wine makers from three different regions in Victoria, yet the diversity of aromas and flavours through the whole range of reds, whites and sparklings that Vinesmith sommeliers have concocted is enough to keep your tastebuds and mind busy for many lunches and dinners ahead. Their suggestions and service is simple, direct warm and impeccable. Bravo! Above all, chef Richard Hayes' cooking has - in my opinion already reached his most laudable ambition to create and deliver, both in the moderately priced set menu and À la carte, products that marry inventively tradition and a modern twist at every step of your tasting. In the light of what i have tasted at Vinesmith, i find that he consistently thinks of absolutely every possibility to explore and stretch his cooking assertive creativity while reining it within a very personal vision of simplicity and utter fineness. We are here in the realm of a real restaurateur from land/terroir who simply knows his products on his fingertips and naturally gets the best out of them. It is elegance without a splash, modesty and authenticity that is the mark of that place. Your Blueberry ice cream Gâteau Basque is not from this world Richard. Sick! But also the creaminess of the Blue Pyrenées rosé sparkling, not too heavy on fruits and so light... Thank you...

What an amazing experience! I am French and trust me when I tell you this was high quality French dining!

The food was absolutely incredible, the flavours were so rich and tasty. Portions were absolutely perfect, we left full and satisfied. The atmosphere was so relaxing and welcoming! I felt the warmth all around us.

The staff get their own paragraph in this review because they were AWESOME. When you eat at Vinesmith you will be looked after by amazing people, super kind and knowledgeable. Like another review mentioned previously: they are very professional yet super approachable. We had friendly chats with pretty much all staff and they were the sweetest people! They also made sure we were looked after very nice. My friend and I got a bottle of this amazing French red wine and I was very impressed with how they kept up with refilling our glasses when they were empty! Never once we needed to ask them for a refill. Glass was always full, like magic.

Kitchen staff, you did an absolute incredible work in the background! The meat was cooked to PERFECTION. I didn’t know meat could be literally cooked to melt in mouth, just wow! Sorry but being French in Melbourne, it’s really hard to find good bread around here, and let me tell you this sourdough with butter? Was SO good! We had the bread and butter as a snack before the entree and main dish and as soon as I ate the bread I was already happy. My heart was conquered already at that point!

Best French dining experience in Melbourne so far! Can’t wait...

What a lovely restaurant in every respect. Everything works here in lovely harmony - the food, the space and the service. Our friends and us thoroughly enjoyed our meals here. The two amuse bouche to start were absolutely delicious and a lot of fun. Every dish in my meal was excellent too. A beautiful duck terrine as entree, succulent rack of lamb for main and a delicious poached pear for dessert. Every dish was beautifully presented - they looked wonderful - and were feasts for their eyes. They have a nice wine list here and we chose a couple of lovely local bottles from Blue Pyrenees. We were most struck by how beautifully presented the restaurant is. This is how to do a restaurant renovation! The place is very stylish outside and inside. It’s superbly designed and really lovely to dine in. We were lucky enough to get a table by the window and had a delightful view of the life in Spring Street and the gorgeous park across the road. Finally, I must highlight how good the service is here. We were mainly served by Leo who is outstanding at his job. Always pleasant, always helpful and informative and Ala ways interesting, Leo really helped to make our experience so extremely pleasant here. This is an excellent restaurant in every respect. Thank you for the experience and we look forward to...