Jimmy Watson's

May 1997

Alan Watson really has no idea how many different clubs “meet” at Jimmy Watson's.

Every day of the week there seems to be at least one “meeting” booked in for lunch upstairs. These are the formal arrangements. Downstairs there are regulars who “attend” the bar religiously always at the same time. Jimmy Watson's is that sort of place and one of the Watson family is always there.

Alan himself started the legendary House of Lords (lunch club) that meets on Tuesdays, this was some time ago as a way of avoiding his sports day at school! But it was in the days of Jimmy, his father and founder of Jimmy Watson's, that the tradition of clubs really got going, particularly with seafarers. Jimmy was friendly with many providores and they, in turn, with the sea captains who brought in their supplies. They brought along their second officers and their engineers and so it snowballed.

Nearby, The University of Melbourne has long been a source of customers and who could guess how many academic discussions have developed and degrees been gained at the Jimmy Watson's bar.

In the beginning the wine bar served mainly fortified wines, going through a phenomenal 240 gallons of sherry a week. As times changed, so did tastes and so did the customers. Table wines make up the major sales now, Rutherglen reds in winter and sparkling wines in summer.

But that’s not all that has changed at Jimmy Watson's. In 1962 after Jimmy died, the wine saloon with its garden barbecue was renovated under the direction of architect, Robin Boyd. The food service remained simple, a cold buffet and a queue at the kitchen (no waiters) was the style. Jimmy’s barbecue was used occasionally “the simplest way to serve hot food”, Alan explains, but only on sunny days and really only for old customers. The new kitchen even included a lift shaft for a dumb waiter to serve food upstairs. This was never put in and even now, in the third evolution of Jimmy Watson's, with its “restaurant food” upstairs at night, the stairs are still used to carry plates.

As Alan explains they’ve been two major changes since his father opened in Lygon Street in the 1930’s. First was the 1962 renovation and second was the opening of Jimmy Watson's to night trade. For years and years, generations of drinkers would be turfed out the doors at 6pm. There had been a reason when 6pm closing still applied but even when that was extended in 1966 the Watson family stuck to tradition. About five years ago the Watson sons, Simon and Nigel joined their parents, Alan and Judy at work. The family began to realise that times had changed and perhaps Jimmy Watson's needed to be more than the wonderful bar and meeting place that it had been for the past half century.

So they decided to try opening at night, at first just on Fridays and then every night (except Monday nights and Sundays when they are closed all day). And they gave Melburnians even more reason to come at night by providing full restaurant service upstairs, an exciting menu from chef Steve Szabo and the clever concept of including tastings of the old Jimmy Watson's’ cellar included with the meal. The experiment started some 16 months ago and has worked extraordinarily well. The kitchen headed by Steve Szabo and his wife Zorica have five chefs with them working from 8am to 11pm trying to keep up with hundreds of customers daily.

The upstairs restaurant is run by Judy Watson and one of the boys, currently it’s Nigel’s turn whilst Simon is doing the day shift. Nigel trained originally as an accountant whilst Simon did hospitality studies at William Angliss. The brothers seems happy to have interchangeable roles, moving from the cellar to the bar to waiting on tables. Though Alan claims to have “retired” he still seems to be there most of the time, greeting old friends or he’s at the market buying some “specials” for lunch. The blending of the fortified wines remains very much his pride and joy though the boys are allowed to do it sometimes. Alan is particularly pleased that this year Nigel will be an associate judge of the Jimmy Watson Trophy at the Royal Melbourne Show.

The changes in Jimmy Watson's over its fifty years, the customers, the drinks, the food are very much part of the changes that have occurred in Melbourne eating and drinking habits. It’s also part of the influence of a number of important Italian food families (my family amongst them) which I will be talking about further. One fascinating aspect of the Watson story however is that it was Alan’s Italian grandmother, Ella, who encouraged and financed Jimmy into the Lygon Street business.