nel. restaurant

beautiful food, excellent service and topped off by the fact nelly came and had a chat to each table at the end of the night. we'll be back very soon!

uma culinária muito boa e bem apresentada. elaborada e com uma inspiração british. recomendo

the 8 course degustation idea was good but i found the execution was poor. the snacks at the start lacks texture, eg very hard cucumber, thick tempura. the mains got a bit better but not enough to rescue a poor score. you can find better food elsewhere at about the same price. as well the dim lighting was not helpful. nel wasn’t working that night which may have some influence?

food: because it's fine dining, the portions are obviously small, but i found the 8 (first 3 shared) course menu to be filling. i thoroughly enjoyed tasting new flavours and combinations ("egg hunt" was cute)

service: friendly and attentive, staff gave explanations of each dish. if you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary, let the staff know (we got asked, though) and you'll get a slice of complimentary cake.

ambience: dark, relaxed, slightly noisy because of banter competing with music.

overall: i would recommend to try nel at least once for the experience.

fantastic food, service and ambience and reasonable prices!

modern australian with basement setting & views of the kitchen. i had the once upon a time disney inspired degustation. each course designed with chef nelly robinson’s favourite childhood disney films. kicking off with mary poppins inspired “spoonful of sugar” and finishing with “seven moods” of the seven dwarves, each dish was well thought out & beautifully presented. 🙂 i enjoyed most of the dishes. the stand out dish for me was “bambi’s mum”, tender venison served with beetroot jus & crispy parsnip chips. the least favourite dish was “mad hatter’s tea party”. the quirky looking petit cakes were cute with funky colours but they were dense & hard as they have been sitting around for days. the taste was weird as well. 😨

great culinary experience, great service. it was a privilege to have chef nelly worked the floor explaining some of the dishes that were served. price was reasonable for the hard work they put into each dish but wine was overpriced. a glass of champagne was charged for $40.... 😬

wow. loved the creativity, the presentation, the flavour of the food. it was a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds. fine dining without the price tag or pretenciousness. love it. will be back.

took melbourne foodie friends here and we all loved it. would easily return as menu changes every month. a lot of attention and craft goes into every course. the service is swift but friendly. small complaint would only be that the noise level in a fully booked restaurant means you can't really hear what the waitstaff are saying about each course as it is presented to you. nice clean kitchen operation.

amazing value. went to nel last friday for lunch - 4 course degustation for $35 pp. it is beyond me how they manage to output such innovative top quality food at such an affordable price. the serving sizes were very generous and the staff were just amazing; very knowledgable, friendly and excited about they food they were serving. cannot wait to go back.

always one to be looking for a place to try, i heard on the grapevine that nel. might be worth a visit. so i made the booking and let mookie know that we would be dining out. we set off we drove an area of the city undergoing a slow transformation, nel. being and example of this transformation. we almost drive straight past without realising when i suddenly notice the discrete neon sign. i look to mookie and say “i think it must be in the basement”. we park and head over and it turns out nel. is indeed in the basement, but don’t let that put you off this little hidden gem.

nel recently opened in a bunker location underneath central station hotel in surry hills and it is definitely something good...the restaurant popped up on my radar a little while before opening and i was keen to try it as soon as my scheduled freed up a little.

simply fantastic. the food is inventive, delicate and most importantly delicious. i'd go back anytime.

celebrated monthsary, serving 8 course meals plus cheese board and a bottle of red wine 🍷 . i enjoyed the night with creative and unique flavours and dishes, it is definitely wows me. great staff and comfy atmosphere. i recommended to pay extra for cheese boards. so worth it. 😃

land and sea

hmm..not sure what i think of the menu. feels like every dish missed the mark slightly. either bland (trout) or too salty (prawn in bisque) or not umami enough (pork). everything was cooked very well and presented beautifully however flavour wise a tad meh and underwhelming for the price tag.
my fav dish was the “fun guy” mushroom risotto and the brioche snack, the only delicious dishes on the menu.
this is my second time at nel, probably won’t be back.
the service however was friendly and attentive.

i tried the once upon a time degustation experience at nel at it was incredible! i am a huge disney lover so i really appreciated the thought and creativity put into each dish to reflect that theme. my favourite course was probably the fish with caviar or the duck! the dessert at the end was also so beautifully presented. i can’t wait to come back again to try out their next themed degustation!