embla

embla was a wine bar/restaurant offering a large range of wine and delectable meals. for lunch we ordered their quinoa & rosemary sourdough, raw kingfish with heirloom cucumbers and yuzu, celeriac hasselback with aged cheddar, and black angus scotch fillet with tarragon & dried tomato. for dessert we had the ‘figs figs figs’. all the dishes were very flavourful; the scotch fillet was tender & cooked to perfection, the celeriac was nicely ‘crispy’ and my favourite was the kingfish - it was very fresh and the yuzu flavour really enhanced the dish. the dim lighting and wooden decor made the ambiance cosy.servicewas friendly.

cozy little spot for some food and wine. theserviceis really good and the menu and wine list are sumptuous. great place to spend the evening.

wow, amazing!!! so while i might have been a little drunk i tried my hardest to take some photos of the food but you can't hold that against me because i promise you that the food is much more about taste / flavour than presentation. you just have to come and taste the whole menu which is pretty much what we did and smashed three bottles of wine 😁😁😁 greatservicewith great food and great wine - what more could anyone ask for. ps. please do yourself a favour and order the mushrooms 😉

enjoyed the food, great selection of wines, good buzz, but nothing to write home about.servicefelt a little hurried and at times lacking (waitress seemed distracted).

visiting melbourne means dining well. though not strictly speaking a restaurant - its a wine bar - the food is restaurant standard. as with a number of establishments, bookings aren't possible at night so its pot luck. fortunately we didn't have to wait long. the ambience is fabulous, theservicewas excellent. the food was always a surprise - do not miss the chickpea pancake. we also had pork jowl which was marvellous. the drink list is very eclectic. a great buzzy place - do go!

greatserviceand lovely food, i really enjoyed the raw kingfish and the wine was excellent. it is quite dark so the menu is hard to read and the specials are unintelligible!

came here on valentine’s day and waited 30 mins for a table as they don’t take dinner reservations. all was worth it in the end.

we ordered
- raw veal: this was so tasty
- octopus: the best octopus dish i’ve ever had in a restaurant. amazing texture and flavour. a must order.
- rainbow trout: least favorite fish here. was very average but not bad.
- half roast chicken: what they’re famous for. i’ve never had a juicer chicken in my life! the sauce was great.
- creamed corn on the side: delicious!!! went to well with our main.
- dessert was a fig creme caramel of some sort and it was ahmazing. the fig just balanced out the caramel so well.

i enjoyed every single dish other than the rainbow trout. theservicewas fast and attentive. great for a date night or catching up with friends.

beautiful dark atmosphere. we ate at the bar and only had to wait 10 mins after walking in to this packed to the rafters (on a wednesday night) eatery. theservicewas excellent and the food was so simply delicious. we had the chicken, pippies (standout) creamed corn and the pickles, as well as both the desserts. will definitely come back.

i really had a great experience here! the food andservicewere 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 to embla for food, drinks or both. find my new fav place!!!

delicious sunday lunch (13/01) consisting of country loaf, capocollo, straccitella, roast chicken with leek & broccoli and peach eton mess. everything was great but favourites would be the capocollo and eton mess! portions were quite generous too. small seating capacity so i can see why the wait during normal dinner is long.servicewas friendly and attentive. looking forward to the next visit :)

4.6. embla is 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 theserviceis not obtrusive at all - and it is extremely efficient. i'd label the embla food 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

wasnt sure if i was going to get a seat here on a wednesday night without a reservation but we got lucky. there isnt a lot on the menu but that's not an issue because whatever they do have, i know they will do it perfectly. when each dish came out it was perfectly presented and tasted amazing. theservicewas great too and they helped us with our food dilemmas. i cant wait to come back to try some more. the only negative i have i'd the seating isnt too comfortable and it's a little cramped. during winter time, the first table near the door can feel the cold breeze so either drink more wine or wear a jacket. would highly recommend otherwise.

came here on wednesday night after work. i got to embla at 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.  theservicewas so-so, and the food overall was pretty decent, except the swordfish.

snuck in to this still heaving bar on a friday night just before the kitchen closed. ordered a variety of small plates starting with an amazing sourdough with an excellent silky cultured butter that tasted almost meaty in its savouriness. we also enjoyed a chickpea pancake, though not as crispy as the traditional ‘socca’. less successful were the veal tartare, which lacked seasoning, and the octopus which would have benefitted from a less chewy protein and a longer cook with the accompanying borlottis.

but great atmosphere and theservicewas excellent. if you can manage to get a table, it’s a worthy stop at one of melbourne’s must do bars.

the score of 4 is for the venue and the amazing chicken dish. the other dishes were nice enough with the better one being the beef cheek. i would come again for the chicken which was succulent dnd had the most delicious sauce. goodservicetoo.