A Beautiful Lunch with a Beautiful Friend.
15th of November 2025
One of my favourite things to do in life is to eat food. And what is better than eating food? Eating food with a great friend! Well, I’m lucky to say I have found my partner in food crime, my dear friend Shellie. A fellow foodie, an incredible cook and food photographer and one of the kindest souls I have ever met. We connected nearly 10 years ago, when I attended a food photography workshop she hosted with her husband, Ewen. We spent a fabulous few days in Daylesford photographing and eating all the food, incredible food, all prepared, cooked and styled by Shellie herself.
All these years later, many a restaurant has been visited, many, many dishes have been consumed, lots of belly laughs and talking all things life and our love for reality television, here we are, back at one of those restaurants that leaves a something in your heart.
I last visited in April 2022 with Shellie of course, and boy did that dining experience stay with me. So much so, I have thought about the food at least once a week since! So naturally when we were looking for somewhere to eat, I was super excited when Shellie recommended another visit to Carlton Wine Room. If you haven’t had the chance to experience all that is Carlton Wine Room, I truly feel for you and recommend you book a table quick smart. I can honestly say it is one of the best dining experiences there is to offer in Melbourne.
Located in gorgeous Carlton, just a hop, skip and a jump from Lygon Street, the moment you walk in you are greeted with the kindest smiles and you are made to feel so welcome. Downstairs features the bar and a few dining tables. It has glorious big windows and a beautiful calming vibe. The kitchen is tucked at the back out of view but you can wander past on the way to the loo and have a cheeky stalk, which I did – twice! Last time we were seated upstairs, which was beautiful, but is a lot darker and unfortunately isn’t the best for two photographers who love to lug our heavy cameras along to our lunches! We delighted to be told our table was downstairs, right next to the beautiful big windows, the natural light flooding through.
The menu in my opinion was perfection. It is the type of menu where you literally want to choose everything on it. Which we pretty much did. Shellie and I are notoriously known to over order and we always seem to start running out of room before mains have arrived. One of the best things you need to know about Carlton Wine Room is that they offer half size portion with some of their menu items. This is a gamechanger for us foodies who what to order more than one or two entrees. And as you can imagine, as we have done time and time again, Shellie and I ordered way too much food!
Here is what we ordered:
- Abrolhos Island scallop, tostada, spring onions and yuzu kosho
- Anchovy, fried bread, ricotta and pickled cucumber
- Duck and pork croquette, prune vinegar
- Stracciatella, pickled mushrooms, chive oil and potato focaccia
- Villain Culatta prosciutto, rock melon, squacquerone
- Sher Wagyu 9+ rump cap, pisto, mustard leaf, bordelaise
- Green salad, honey, verjus dressing
- And a fabulous roast capsicum pasta special that I don’t remember what it came with!
Yes, two girls ordered ALL OF THAT FOOD! We did ask for a few of those smaller dishes in a half size, but even the half size was incredibly generous. So, my recommendation if you are going with one other person is to cut back on ordering too much, because devastatingly we couldn’t fit in dessert. And if you know me, I always want dessert!
We decided to start things off with the scallop, which was raw and melted in your mouth. The crunch of the tostada was exactly the texture and flavour the little morsel needed. The spring onions where charred and added this subtle smokiness and the yuzu shone through and created a delightful citrus-y kick that brough the dish together. If I am honest, I could have eaten another 10 of those!
The other two small bites, duck croquettes and anchovy on fried bread, we had the pleasure of trying both last time and let me just say they were just as good as I remember, even better perhaps! The croquette was so crispy, with a soft and creamy duck filling and it was topped with a gloriously tangy and sweet prune jam. But hands down one of the top bites of the day was the anchovy on fried bread, which was what unlocked a spot in my heart three years ago. If you don’t appreciate a good quality anchovy then I would recommend skipping this dish, but if you are like me and love anchovies then you will love this. And no, I’m not talking about those gross anchovies you get on a pizza, I’m talking those big, glorious bastards that are salty and delicious! Anyway, back to the anchovy toast - it is wonderfully balanced, the saltiness of the fish, the butteryness of the bread and the creaminess of the ricotta, paired with the crunch of the cucumber and fried bread, it was utter perfection. Again, I could have eaten 10 more!
Next up was the smaller plates, the prosciutto and the pickled mushrooms that was accompanied by the most amazing potato focaccia. It’s hard to describe the experience I had when I first tasted the stracciatella with pickled mushrooms. It was an explosion of textures and flavours and I did my silly little happy dance. As Shellie knows, I am a very expressive eater, especially when I something is good! I dance, I clap, I say yum a lot and get very excited! I love food and I’m not afraid to show it!
The prosciutto was wonderful, but unfortunately not needed. We got extremely full by this stage and we still had mains to come. But then mains came. And damn they were good. The pasta, oh my goodness, the pasta. It was simple and stunning and perfect and amazing and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Unfortunately, as it was a special, I have no idea what it was, I believe it was a roast capsicum sauce but I could be wrong. What ever the sauce was, it was silky and smooth, slightly sweet but tangy at the same time and paired with perfectly al dente pasta it was one of the best plates of pasta I have ever eaten. Fingers crossed it features on their regular menu as they asked us for our honest feedback.
The wagyu melted in your mouth, but just needed an extra sprinkle of salt for my liking. And I didn’t really bother with the pisto and mustard greens, in my opinion I don’t think the wagyu needed to come with anything, it was perfect on its own. Plus we often get the house salad to accompany our mains, and this salad with the wagyu was a match made in heaven. Now, I made a mistake. When you visit, make sure you order the salad in a half serve as it is HUGE! My fault, Shellie suggested a half serve but I said no (sorry Shellie!). We ate slowly and as always we giggled, we chatted and I made all my silly little happy dance moves.
WE. WERE. STUFFED. And stuffed to the brim. There was no way we were going to be able to fit in dessert and I’m not going to lie, I was devastated. But luckily we were in Carlton, one of Melbourne’s best foodie suburbs, so I was able to pick up a cheeky sweetie treatie to devour on the train ride home. And anyway, next time I go I will make sure I leave room for dessert.
All in all, it was a beautiful lunch. And naturally I have thought about it every day since! I would have to say it is one of my top five favourite restaurants in Melbourne, so make sure you add it to your must visit list.
Jo x