Vin Cellar

Ph: 9510 2820; 212 High St, Prahran 3181 www.vincellar.com.au

Contemporary, $$
Open Thu-Sun noon-3pm 7 days 6-10.30pm; Licensed, Corkage $5 bottle; AE DC MC V
Chef John Lepp (5-12-08) Owner Damien Hobday (5-12-08)

Mietta's Review
It's a fabulous concept - a wine shop with food where you can (for $5 corkage) sample the bottle of your choice at bottle-shop prices. The selection is terrific and the price, for a restaurant, is unbelievable. High banquettes line one wall, the other is clad with shelves groaning under the weight of enticing bottles. The room widens at the back where to allow more seating. This is where Vin's wine appreciation classes are held. The food is very reasonably priced and tends towards the fashionable influences of the day. Service is polite but can be stretched when is a class is underway at the back.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 14/20 "Wedged between a smash repair shop and a car dealer, Vin Cellar hasn't the most salubrious of restaurant addresses. But behind the ho-hum wine-store facade is a long, dark, atmospheric enoteca; all crimson walls, flickering candlelight, chatter bouncing off the hard floor and racks of wine at bottle-shop prices"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 14/20 "Wine lovers hunting for a cosy, candlelit spot on a wintry night should head straight to this wine bar/store and restaurant near Chapel Street"

Herald Sun Bob Hart, 31-03-07 "ONCE upon a time, it was impossible to decide whether this place was a wine bar that did bottle sales, or a bottle shop that did tucker. But not any more. Because after seven years in development, Vin has finally emerged as a stylish, atmospheric restaurant with food as good as any in town and a wine list that will make your head spin. Literally, if you let it."

The Age Larissa Dubecki, 26-10-2006 "It's a wine shop. It's a bar. And it's a restaurant. In a too-clever-by-half example of multi-tasking, Vin customers can select a wine at a bottle-shop price and consume it on-site, either on its own or, with a $5 charge, alongside the Oz-Med bistro fare; the perfect concept for these belt-tightening days when the BYO in inner Melbourne is becoming rarer than the orange-bellied parrot."

The Age Cheap Eats 2007 "Elegant Vin has got its priorities right: wine bottles pattern the menu, astute wine matches are suggested for each dish (from the freshly shucked oysters to the cheese), and a powerhouse display of plonk lines the walls of the candlelit dining room."

The Age Cheap Eats 2006

Herald Sun Stephen Downes Dining Out 7/2/06 score 12/20 "Vin serves basic bistro tucker of no great distinction. Many Melbourne restaurants table better food at cheaper prices. But if you love your wine and can afford the best, this may be the place to sample exclusive and hard-to-find drops. Service is excellent."

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 14/20 "Every neighbourhood needs a place like Vin Cellar, and the way enoteca-style places have proliferated in the past year, we very nearly do. It helps, of course, when the menu reads as well as the wine list, as it does here. Under the stewardship of new chef Will Parbury"

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "Each visit to Vin Cellar peels back another layer of evolving sophistication. The cellar/shop/bar/cafe that manages to be many things - including a linen-clad, Riedel-equipped diner at night - to many people, has developed a real following in the wine community."

The Age John Lethlean 10/10/05 "Vin Cellar, in Prahran, is a passionately run little restaurant with food to complement its primary business: wine."

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 "VIN provides a lesson in evolution. First it was a specialist Italian wine shop, then a wine bar and cafe. Now it has mutated into a fully fledged restaurant. But what really sets Vin apart is the way it subverts the bottle shop concept, throwing open its considerable cellar to the masses. You can choose from many hundreds of bottles at must-be-a-misprint prices, and either take them away, or drink your selection on the premises for a measly $5 corkage"

The Age Cheap Eats 2005 "THIS welcoming wine bar is painted bordello red. At night the light from tealights on the clothed tables reflects off the wide range of fine wines that line the wall (more than 1300 top drops in all). Order yourself a bottle (you'll pay only retail price plus $5 corkage) and relax on a low sofa by the fire."

The Age Cheap Eats 2004 "SETTLE into a red banquette by the open fire, gaze at the wall of wines and pretend this cosy ground level 'cellar' is your own. You can drink by the glass or the flight, but smart oenophiles grab a bottle from the racks ($5 corkage is clocked for retail-priced wines)."

The Age Epicure 22/2/05 John Lethlean score 15/20 "This was, nevertheless, an impressive series of well-thought-through dishes showing skill and restraint. Vin, with its flights and interesting by-the-glass selections, is a particularly engaging place to be. With extremely good food."

The Age Cheap Eats 2004,Excellent breakfasts,Somewhere we highly recommend,'Settle into a red banquette by the open fire,gaze at the wall of wines and pretend this cosy ground level 'cellar' is your own.You can drink by the glass or the flight,but smart oenophiles grab a bottle from the racks.Line your stomach with moreish snacks'

The Age Epicure Matt Preston December 7, 2004 "The droll might suggest that names also play a big part at Vin, the Prahran wine shop that's also a bistro. Former chef Richard Van Deursen has been replaced by Roger Van Den Bogaert, whose CV includes time at Livebait, at Luxe ... and ... at Pomme. ... so it's a pity the food, while well priced, is pretty so-so on our visit. It's not that it's bad, but it does pale beside the amazing wines that jut from racks along red walls"

The Age, Agenda, 2/5/04,John Lethlean,'hybrid wine bar/wine shop/cafe/bistro that is Vin nicely.And he maintains a similar eclectic mix of culinary cultures:a nice Thai style duck curry here,good pasta there,a proper steak with roesti elsewhere.But wine's the high priority,and where else do they pour Giaconda by the glass?'