The Deanery

Ph: (03) 9629 5599; 13 Bligh Pl, MELBOURNE 3000 www.thedeanery.com.au

Contemporary/Middle Eastern, $$
Open Mon-Fri noon-late; Sat 6pm-late; Licensed, BYO; AE DC MC V EFT, Seats inside 60, Private room 40
Chef Luke Willoughby (7-11-07) Owner Anthony & Jenny Oxley Jones (7-11-07)

Mietta's Review
There's a dramatic contrast between The Deanery's Generation X sophistication and its location down one of the city's cobbled lanes. It's basically a wine bar where you can cellar your own wine, a lounge where you can indulge in partially public displays in the flimsily curtained booths or try the mediterranean food in the restaurant section. Unfortunately the restaurant doesn't really work. The badly shape room is squashed under a low black painted ceiling that bristles with pipes and an unfortunately prominent air-con unit. Service, after climbing the precipitous steps, is understandably a bit disjointed and the food doesn't inspire. Probably best to stay downstairs.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 13.5/20 "Tucked away in a blind alley off Flinders Lane, The Deanery brings a cool sophistication to the City eating and drinking scene. The split-level dining room is decked out in chocolate browns and creams, with a long marble bar downstairs attracting a well-heeled crowd for an afterwork pinot gris"

The Age Larissa Dubecki, 26-10-2006 "All of Melbourne's favourite fads have been rolled into one slick package at the Deanery, a watering hole down a grimy laneway."

Herald Sun Dining Out, Stephen Downes, 13/6/06 Score: 13/20 "Several CBD brasseries have recently set stupendously high standards. The Deanery is some distance behind them in the food department, even if the service is fine and the ambience cool. And if your pocket is deep enough you can drink dramatic drops."

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 14/20 "Wine snobs are in seventh heaven in this gorgeous art directed paean to Bacchus. With its romantic nooks shielded by fluttering organza curtains, tiered wooden bleachers studded with candles and a ceiling adorned with white roses and hanging glass bottles, this is one atmospheric drinking den."

Age John Lethlean 11/10/05 "So, the Deanery is about reserved, modern style, informality, hidden city chic, a European wine bar attitude and food that Melbourne can probably claim above most: a subtle, modern bistro cooking influenced by Middle Eastern flavours."

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 "This wine bar, restaurant and storage cellar inhabits a fashionably recherche location (tucked far down a tiny city laneway) and plays with a slightly too-cool-for-school finesse"

The Age (melbourne magazine) Melinda Houston Feb 05 "If your Blahniks can survive the trip down this lane and past the dumpsters, there are few more elegant locales in the CBD. Velvety banquettes veiled by diaphanous drapes create the perfect nooks for tete-a-tetes."

Herald Sun CityStyle Best of Melbourne 04 Best romantic rendezvous "How to charm a date in 60 seconds: walk into The Deanery, where, of course, you have your own wine stored in the cellar."

Herald Sun, citystyle, 25/5/04, Danielle Johnston,'It's not often that the words bar and transcendent religious experience are used in the same sentence,but the swanky Deanery is a bit of a revelation.This place is so evangelical about sharing good times from the vine,it provides climate-controlled wine lockers for locals short on cellar space,and a hyper-stylish setting for after-hours quaffers.'

The Sunday Age, Sunday Life, Eat Streets, John Lethlean 18/5/03

Herald Sun, citystyle, Eat Treats, 6/5/03, Michael Harden

The Sunday Age, Sunday Life, Eat Streets, Dani Valent, 16/2/03

Sunday Herald Sun, sundaymagazine, dining, Sarah Wilson, Score 6.5/10