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333 Lygon Street, Carlton, 9347 3985
My score: 3/5
Long ago, before espresso coffee arrived in Carlton, back in the days of beer, more beer and unironic moustaches, Jimmy Watson opened a wine bar. It’s still there 78 years later, run by his son and grandson who persist in the glorious mission of highlighting wines from up-and-coming producers and sharing bargains from bigger names. This place has shouldered much of the load of weaning Australians off spumante and towards connoisseurship and it still deserves a fond place in drinkers’ hearts, not least because it focuses on wining well at moderate prices.
These days, many Melbourne wine bars offer better wine service and food but there aren’t any with Jimmy Watson’s atmospheric Robin Boyd-designed timber-beamed dining room (from a 1963 renovation) or its great variety of rooms, nooks and terraces which each attract their own crowd. There’s the den-like Wolf’s Lair, the astroturfed Treetops bar, even a Thin Red Line military-themed hangout. It’s a fun place to visit whether you’re a uni student, a thrifty wine buff or merely thirsty.
A middle-of-the-road menu includes pizza, pasta, calamari and steak, all of it nudging gourmet without quite getting there. Housemade pappardelle with duck ragu and mushrooms had good flavour but much of the pasta clumped together. Barramundi was nicely grilled but the fish was mushy. Chick-pea flour crumbed calamari curls were pretty good though placing them on tired salad leaves undid some good work. The steak did the job and the pizza was okay (gluten-free bases are available). There’s plenty of interesting wine to try but neither the list nor the various blackboards offer annotations, the glassware is basic and some of the wine service was laughable. For example, a clear request for pinot gris (a white wine) resulted in the arrival of a pinot noir (a red wine). I don’t need an encyclopedic rundown about a grape’s provenance and the songs sung to the vines every time I slug some booze but I reckon the right colour wine is a decent baseline.
I love the old school elements of Jimmy Watson’s and its history. There’s nothing else like it. Attempts are clearly being made to garner a young crowd with all those groovy nooks and the easygoing menu but I’m not sure it adds up to educating the next generation of wine drinkers.
See their website.
More summer drinking:
Captain Baxter, 10-18 Jacka Boulevard, 8534 8999
In a killer location above the St Kilda Sea Baths, Captain Baxter serves fun St Kilda-themed cocktails on the rooftop backed by a super snacky menu that’s built to share.
Harry and Frankie, 317 Bay Street, Port Melbourne, 9645 4414
Fuel wine obsessions at this gorgeous new wine bar and bottle shop. A compact menu includes charcuterie and cheese.
Village Melbourne, 557 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, 9529 2899
The re-branded Belgian Beer Cafe is now a cruisy village hub: chill in the garden with frankfurters and wings or head for the brasserie where beer-friendly snacks include whitebait fritters and pork and prawn gyoza.
First published in The Age, January 5, 2014.
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