Monday 7 November 2011

Melbourne CBD lunch venues in the sunshine

Sunny

When you work in a skyscraper like I do, days like this make you YEARN for the outside world and the feeling of the sun on your face. On a similarly sunny day a few weeks ago, while I was waiting to meet up with Emily for lunch, I asked the Twitterverse for suggestions of lunch venues in the city where you can sit outside in the sun.

(Sidenote: we ended up having a disastrous indoor lunch that day at Crazy Wing, where the "offensively spicy" titular dish lived up to its name and nearly destroyed my tastebuds. Warning: those crazy wings be crazy.)

A list-in-progress of sunny al fresco CBD lunch spots (please leave a comment to add venues):
Arintji
Beer DeLuxe
The Carlton balcony (lunch Thursdays, Fridays and weekends only)
Cookie balcony (tiny balcony, hard to get an outside seat)
EARL Canteen
Espressino
The European / City Wine Shop
Federal Coffee Palace
Fugazza
Grossi Florentino / The Cellar Bar Grossi Florentino
The Hardware Societe
Hare & Grace
Le Traiteur
Le Triskel
Madame Brussels (limited menu - chicken sandwiches recommended)
The Mess Hall
Miss Chu
Movida Aqui and Terraza
Mr Tulk
Piadina Slowfood
Ponyfish Island
Pure South
Riverland
Sarti
Shanghai Street Dumpling (limited seating outside)
Transport
Trunk / Trunk Diner
Wallis & Ed
Plus the usual string of cafes along Degraves Street and Hardware Lane
The courtyard at the end of Madame Brussels Lane (assorted cafes)

And one of my personal favourites (which I had today)...
Take-away bánh mì from N Lee, to be consumed in Treasury Gardens

What's missing? Must be: (a) in the CBD; (b) open for lunch during the week; and (c) have outside seating, preferable in direct sunlight.

14 comments:

Jo said...

Great timing for this post given the weather we are getting!

I think Sarti has a rooftop terrace, and Arintji at Fed Square has outdoor seating to soak up some rays.

Think I might need to plan a lunch in the sun very soon.

hannyb said...

ex-Melbourne now, but used to enjoy a cheap pub lunch at Transport in Fed Square. Good (enough) basic food, and a beer in the sun... wrapped up in a little daydream about never going back to work. :)

vivalaivy said...

this post is making me miss Melbourne rather badly. specially those special sunny days in Melbourne... *sigh* thanks for a great post!

Heidsp said...

Le Traiteur has great food and a sunny laneway position, just off Lonsdale Street. Lots of chairs and cute staff

David said...

Ha, I had banh mi from N Lee yesterday as well (which I absolutely love) but stupidly took it back to my office to eat. What was I thinking?

MoMo & Coco said...

Fugazza on Equitable Lane has a few tables that spill out onto the laneway and under the sun. Awesome foccacia, just like we had in Milan's Princi bakery recently. :)

Hannah said...

What a great idea for a post!
What about MoVida Terrazza? They'd have quite a bit of gorgeously sunny seating I'd imagine.

Amystown said...

Great post, thanks!

Anna said...

Madame Brussels Lane (off Lonsdale St, between Spring and Exhibition) has a great courtyard hidden in the middle and a range of good eating spots (Japanese, good Italian, a pub). Also the laneway across Lonsdale St besides Blue Bay (good take-away sandwiches) has a great Italian place up the stairs ...

Anonymous said...

Beer deLuxe in Federation Square has a beer garden. It's quite big, pretty sure they do lunch every day. And the beers.... phwoar

birchy said...

Piadina Slow Foods, off Lonsdale near Exhibition. Food is a little up and down but they have full sun until the afternoon.

birchy said...

Piadina Slow Foods off Lonsdale near Exhibition. The food's a bit up and down but they have full sun in the open air until the afternoon.

Kimmigirl said...

Wallis & Ed at 1 Bourke Street has tables on the street (with tree-dappled light for those scorching days). Breakfast from 7:30 and lunch from 11am.

Andi

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