embla

disappointingly one dimensional (i know that sounds wankerish, but hear me out).

as each dish came out we found ourselves desperately trying to find something that wowed us, but inevitably we just shrugged and said "it's ok, i guess?"

the duck parfait came first, and though it was smooth and creamy and relatively tasty in itself, it desperately needed some citrus and sweetness (probably an unfair comparison but i couldn't help thinking of heston's meat fruit). and why serve it with crackers? why not some toasted bread?

next sad dish was the ceviche, which, though we could tell the fish was fresh, needed something more to elevate it, there was no balance whatsoever and it looked like a white rice cracker on a white plate.

it was the same for our other dishes, i cant even rememeber them now, but the final disappointment was the pork, which took ages to come out, and had no pork flavor at all. how can a meat be both tender and chewy? we're thinking it was sous-vided, but badly?

we trekked out specifically becauseemblahas had so many rave reviews and for such a cool little bar, i thought the food would've been better.

opened in dec 2015 by the town mouse team,emblais definitely an up and rising wine bar in the cbd - recently voted as the top 34 australia restaurant on financial review. their roasted chicken was also featured on herald sun as the best chicken. i absolutely loved their creative menu and beautiful crafted dishes. high quality food, extensive wine list, cozy ambience and friendly service.. and they open from
8am till late! highly recommend their beef tartar, mussels, house bread and mustard butter. their lunch special dish - pork belly and potato curry $16 was generous and delicious too.

very, very good. on a cold wintery melbourne day,emblawas a snug little oasis. unobtrusive staff, but extremely knowledgeable. some experimental wines and delicious share plates, made for a very enjoyable afternoon. can highly recommend for date night or day.

a seriously good wine bar in the heart of the city,emblais one of those places that you can consider yourself lucky if you are able to snag a table on a weekend. with a lovely atmosphere, chic decor and fabulous wine list;emblais perfect for an intimate date night.

we were fortunate enough to dine here on a busy saturday night, and the place was busy and bustling. after a delicious glass of wine we enjoyed several tasting plates including a beautifully fresh tuna carpaccio, a divine mushroom and ricotta dish, and a more substantial herbed lamb backstrap with roasted cauliflower. all the dishes were presented well, and the taste was amazing. some crunchy toast was perfect for eating with our yummy tapas style plates. i really enjoy this kind of relaxed dining, as it makes you focus more on your company and you can enjoy the environment more.

staff were lovely and accommodating and great at recommending both wines and dishes to try, and this definitely contributed to a fabulous experience overall. it's easy to see whyemblahas the fantastic reputation that it has, and i'm so glad that i got to try it for myself.

we were so looking forward to tryingemblaafter a previous failed attempt, but it didn’t live up to the hype - unfortunately. the ambience is perhaps the best feature - the food is very average. we ordered the chickpea pancake, half roast chicken and a side. the pancake was nice, but chicken was undercooked! it was very chewy and clearly undone in some parts. quite disappointing for the price tag!

i might return for drinks and the warm nice vibe which is quite pleasant in winter nights, but won’t eat there again.

finally we’ve made it toemblaand snagged a table, after several failed attempts we now have a lovely table and a menu ready to go!!. if the house baked seeded sourdough bread and white soy cream are this good imagine what the rest of the food is like! heaven!. pork rillettes aren’t the prettiest but they taste amazing with all levels of porky fabulousness going on!!

i really had a great experience here! the food and service were outstanding. everything was great. i discovered some great gin and cider on the menu with the help of informative staff it was so good to be here. i enjoyed all the food that i ordered. i highly recommend a visit toemblafor food, drinks or both. find my new fav place!!!

in short, our dinner atemblawas outstanding. from the food to the ambience and service, everything was great. even though neither of us are wine drinkers, we discovered some great gin and cider on the menu with the help of informative staff. we enjoyed all the food that we ordered but particular stand out dishes included the country loaf, veal tartare, chickpea pancake and octopus. our only minor criticism is that the chicken dish was a little too salty.

we highly recommend a visit toemblafor food, drinks or both.

4.6. emblais sensational.

twosheds and friends dined here for lunch on a thursday. in the 1990s and early 2000s, this place was a pretty good italian pizza restaurant which we used to frequent. the premises have now moved up a serious notch. this is the type of place you walk into and feel immediately at home - dark wood interior with a lovely bar at the front and perfect lighting - i could have sat there all afternoon. it appeared as though that was exactly what a lot of people were doing! the staff are friendly, but the service is not obtrusive at all - and it is extremely efficient. i'd label theemblafood as modern australian, french, italian fusion, in a really good way.

we decided on the banquet, which did not include dessert. beautiful bread arrived to start with a smoky, creamy butter. the friendly waiter advised me that the butter is smoked over oak wood chips in their own kitchen. it was amazing. we then started with blue eye trevalla carpaccio, followed by pickled cucumber sitting on a bed of dill feta, veal tartare with parsley and fresh peas and a chickpea pancake with globe artichoke topped with flat leaf parsley and parmesan (which twosheds suspected to be reggiano, the best of italian parmesans). while all these dishes were fantastic, my highlight out of this super set of dishes was the chickpea pancake - gooey in middle and crisp on outside. it was a textural triumph.

our main courses consisted of swordfish served with leeks, and half roasted chicken with a beautiful gravy and, as a side, asparagus sitting on a goats cheese sauce. the highlight here was the half roasted chicken. it was roasted to perfection, with crispy, flavoursome skin, and moist on the inside - the gravy a perfect accompaniment. one criticism here - the goats cheese was excellent, but the quite pungent nature of this particular goats cheese overpowered the delicate nature of the asparagus. the asparagus was also a little woody at the thick end - would have been nicer trimmed to spear only.

for dessert, we finished with coffee, alongside a chocolate and olive oil millefeuille and panna cotta with blueberries - two desserts shared between four of us. both desserts were stunning. the standout was the beautiful panna cotta. our lovely waitress advised us that the berries had been poached in their own syrup. the berries used to create the syrup were also presented with the poached items - dehydrated and raisin-like. the panna cotta had a beautiful sour finish on the palate - potentially made with sour cream - which finished off an amazing dessert. to boot, there was also crystallised elderflower incorporated in the panna cotta topping.

the only other criticism is possibly the wine list. while there were some beautiful wines on the list - which we drank (including a lovely yarra valley pinot noir) - we thought that the wine list could be expanded a little.

on the whole though, what a fabulous experience. i recommend giving it a try.

4.6

good vibe and service. great selection of wineemblahas some of the best wine i’ve tasted they are not found elsewhere!! sourdough bread is amazing ! rest of food is ok to get by. would highly recommend this place for drinks.

came here on wednesday night after work. i got toemblaat 5.30pm and the whole place was fully packed. only spot was at the very end on a long table. i took it anyways. as i was waiting for my friend to arrive i slowly absorbed the atmosphere. the wine bar has the atmosphere, the place is dimly lit but enough to feel comfortable.  

🔆location🔆
embla is comveniently located on russell street, between bourke and little collins street. a nice little establishment with simple frontage.

🔆service🔆
on the wednesday night there were 2 females and 1 male staff working on the floor. i could tell the woman in the white was the manager and she was friendly and efficient. the woman in the black top with short brown wavy hair was rather impatient and not as friendly. at one point i tried to wave her to get her attention and she turned around rudely and said " just wait! " i was a bit suprised. she could have given me 5 seconds of her time so i could ask a question, but she didnt.

🔆menu🔆
the food menu was simple but had enough variety to select from.
my friend and i ordered to share:

smoked duck liver parfait, stout, wattleseed, $15.00octopus, borlotti beans, turnip, walnut, $24.00
yellow carrots, buttermilk, fennel, almond, $14.00
swordfish, creamed greens, peanut, $30.00

🔆price🔆
between 2 people, the food works out to be about $40.00 ( exclude drinks). which is not bad price.
each dish is priced reasonably.

🔆verdict🔆
the duck liver parfait was very nice, however we expected to have some bread to be served with it, instead we got thin crips like bread crackers which just didnt seem to match.the octopus was cooked to perfection, the whole dish was delicious.

carrots was also quite tasty and full of flavour.

the swordfish was a disappointment.  it was very bland, no seasoning, it was half raw not sure if thats how it was meant to be cooked.  we ended up putting the duck liver parfait on the swordfish to eat to get some flavour to it. the creamed greens which turned out to be kale, was very tasty. 

i noticed that most of the dishes we ordered had some form of nuts included.. hahah! embla is a great little place to chill after work and enjoy some wine and food.  the service was so-so, and the food overall was pretty decent, except the swordfish.

excellent food, great service, fantastic wine list, lovely space.emblaticks all the boxes. we had the stracciatella with beets, soured cucumbers, heirloom tomato salad, prawns and the pork dish. ended with the passionfruit posset, which was the perfect sweet finish. standouts were the cucumbers, prawns and stracciatella. very hard to fault. will be back!

came here last year with my husband, and we had been looking forward to dinning inemblafor a long time, the expectation was high. we had ordered as much as we could, and every dish was beautiful!
our favorite dish was the pork belly, so crunchy and juicy. service was really nice as well. we left with satisfaction.

good food, friendly service, and above all, a wonderful wine list. having been toemblamany times there's a lot to say for a melbourne restaurant that offers a consistently good night out!

brilliant experience on a date nightsaturday night with wifey. seated straight away, immense vibe, wine list and interesting sophisticated and very on trend menu. had the sourdough, buratta, pipis, and squid, all great choices. rum baba dessert was probably the most boozey dessert i've ever had, not a great choice. would have been 4/5 but gets a 5/5 due to the fact they had gang starr on the playlist.emblawas good fun, i'll happily go back.