La Luna Bistro

Ph: 9349 4888; 320 Rathdowne St, CARLTON NORTH 3054 www.lalunabistro.com.au

Modern Mediterranean, $$ +, ** for Food
Open Tue-Fri noon-3pm Sat-Sun 11am-3pm Tue-Sun 6-10pm, Closed Christmans period; Licensed, BYO , Corkage $15 bottle; AE DC MC V EFT
Chef Adrian Richardson (5-12-08) Owner Adrian Richardson (5-12-08)

Mietta's Review
This is a great neighbourhood restaurant. A corner shopfront with windows on two sides, tables on a widened footpath outside and a bright breezy atmosphere. Service is good and the food is well balanced and flavoursome - high praise in a world where cleverness rates better than taste. Can be noisy if full.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 14/20 "It's worth casting a close eye over the revamped fitout of this bustling North Carlton bistro. With lightshades fashioned from antique fencing wire and walls panelled in various hardwoods, the feel is rustic yet refined - and that's a pretty good way to sum up owner-chef Adrian Richardson's approach to food"

Herald Sun 10-06-08 Score: *** "Herald Sun Chef/owner Adrian Richardson has sharpened his focus on meat - especially the grass-fed beef he dry ages on the premises"

Herald Sun Eat, Bob Hart, 8-12-07 "For 10 years La Luna has prospered in premises that, curiously, once housed a lame vegie haunt called Lord Lentil. God awful, actually. Every year La Luna has improved to some degree. But in the past year - in concert with a stylish facelift - standards have soared. And business, happily, has boomed right along with them, which would suggest that people really can tell the difference ... Richardson has loved meat since the day his father, for reasons unclear to me but probably not involving selfdefence, instructed the young Adrian to shoot a sheep. Which he did."

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 14/20 "From the warmth of the staff to the commitment of its chef, there's something really inviting about North Carlton's La Luna. A newish renovation around a dark, smouldering colour scheme has also upped the glamour stakes"

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "Every neighbourhood should have a bistro like this one. Friendly, unpretentious, but just a touch more special than a cafe. The place is generally humming with a very Carlton crowd (over 30, left-leaning, the women smartly dressed, the men not), all intent on a good feed without fuss. And that's exactly what they get."

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20, 1 Hat "Some things in lite were meant to be easy. Dining at La Luna is one of them, thanks to ownerchef Adrian Richardson's classy yet relaxed approach. His lusty love of food translates into a refreshingly warm attitude towards dining."

Herald Sun Eat Bob Hart 4/6/05 "All the food at La Luna is good even the lentils. But the loyalty of many regulars relates to the brilliance of the beef Adrian serves and the miraculous, beefy sausages he makes. Now, the quality of both can be traced to superb meat that is aged on the bone for at least four weeks, often longer, in a cool room behind the restaurant."

The Age A2 Jane Faulkner 23/4/05 "Adrian Richardson is the affable chef/owner and a dedicated meat man. He makes his own sausages: lamb, rabbit, anything on four legs. He buys 700-kilogram sides of beef, hangs them until they are extra flavoursome and serves them to Pavlov's dogs in the dining room."

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 "LA LUNA s the kind of contemporary bistro that inspires cross-town travel. Its pleasant setting, on a sunny corner block with plenty of outside seating, certainly helps. But the appeal also lies in La Luna's flexible approach - for some punters it's a drop-in spot, for others a special occasion restaurant."

Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide "La Luna still does that Carlton all-day-all-weekend brunch, to huge acclaim, but has morphed into the restaurant it is today. Not a place of cutting-edge gastronomy, but a home to food rooted in sound principles of quality produce handled carefully."

The Foodies' Guide 2004, Allan Campion & Michele Curtis,'Chef and owner Adrian Richardson offers a large menu of modern Mediterranean cuisine,with brunch on the weekends and an early dinner to tempt junior tastebuds.Very family-friendly at all times.'

AGFG 2004, score 14/20

Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004,'La Luna is the quintessential bustling Melbourne cafe/bistro.Generous is every sense, it speaks volumes of its interesting inner-city locale...has a set a template of robust, Mediterranean-inspired flavours married with good produce, and it clearly works.The restaurant gets better-and-busier every year...professional,friendly staff

The Age, Epicure, 14/10/03, John Lethlean, score 14/20

Sunday Age, Sunday Life, Eat Streets, 6/4/03, John Lethlean.