We love this upscale pub at the fancy end of town – and not just for its excellent blend of 19th and 21st century style and the very summer-friendly Colin's Courtyard. This bar is putting out some very serious food with a locally sourced and seasonally changing bent. Choose from small or large plates according to your appetite with dishes like gin-cured salmon, jasmine-smoked beetroot, ocean perch with mussels and duck breast with rhubarb.
Out front you have a public bar pushing craft beers, while out the back, the Blind Alley Bar is filled with city workers talking shop and chucking back wines. Upstairs there's a function space and throughout it all, there's all the decadence you expect from collared shirt and tie-type venue on Collins Street's Paris end.
In the morning the quarter swarms with suits getting their AM cup of joe from Doc Martin's – a space which starts serving aperitifs and digestifs once the sun is high in the sky. Those looking for a serious gastronomic experience book a leather booth in the dining room where the open fire crackles on miserably grey Melbourne days. After a drink? Pink Alley Bar and Blind Alley Bar can cater for everything from afterwork drinks to corporate functions.
