Arlechin - Kurunjang

Honestly loved this place, first time here and it won’t be my last, definitely satisfied my Italian tastebuds AND food was still available at 10:30pm like wow. Made my night. Service was very chilled but professional.

Tucked in a laneway behind both Grossi and Ombra is Arlechin also of the same restaurant group serving up complex cocktails and late night nibbles. If you see the spaghetti mural and string of dumpsters, you're in the right vicinity.<br/ <br/ I get one of their specialty cocktails, their Roman Rye Fizz which a few other people seemed to be ordering that night. It was okay, I thought it'd have more impact and it had a rather dry finish. Wasn't very sweet as expected from the notes of honey and grapefruit, citrusy with a pleasant woodiness from the rosemary.<br/ <br/ The menu is a combination of familiar comfort food and modern. Take their jaffle bolognese, filled with hot meaty sauce with a generous shaving of parmesan. I was expecting some spaghetti inside but it was much like a hot meat pie, I'd like it either way. I suggest the fork and knife, it's almost impossible to avoid jaffle sauce spillage. They also do various pasta dishes (unfortunately did not try) if you're feeling extra hungry.<br/ <br/ We also had a plate of salami and pickles, enjoyed the fattiness of the salami and various house pickled vegetables. Their cured kingfish with blood orange, capers and cucumber was decent also, I just wish the sizing was larger so I could pick out each ingredient. I loved the crackers that accompanied it however, addictively crispy and lightly salted.<br/ <br/ We had some lightly fried calamari paired with preserved lemon rinds and a spread of mayo. Not much to it but it was perfectly cooked and soft. Same could be said with their octopus skewer with pesto cetarese, really tender and slightly smokey. Lastly was some cod, texture was firm and flaky. It had the most luxurious onion and parsley sauce that paired well with the fish.<br/ <br/ For dessert we shared some comte paired with mustard fruit. The cheese was delightful and sharp, the candied mustard fruit was what blew me away. Never had it before and it had that mild mustard kick to it, sweet and delicious, kind of like me. We got the same crackers (as mentioned before) accompanying this dish which was very welcome. The frangelico semifreddo with gianduja was right down my alley, not overly sweet and had a lovely nuttiness to it. The shards had the most amazing texture, airy and snappy, kind of like honeycomb.<br/ <br/ It got pretty busy afterwards with people flowing in for a few drinks. Staff were very friendly, food reasonably priced and flowed well. You'd have no trouble going through most the menu with a group of 4.

Cute hidden laneway bar! Cool cocktails, not your standard cocktail menu and staff are friendly and assisting when ordering. The Bolognese Jaffle is a great snack plenty of filling and smothered in cheese...made the way a jaffle should be!

Such a cool little hidden cocktail bar in Melbourne’s CBD. Great moody vibe and extensive drinks list. Food menu is also decent. We ordered the oysters, fried chicken, kingfish sashimi, the salami with pickled vegetables and the fried calamari. The calamari was the standout for sure.

Nice bar small food menu. Service very nice polite and friendly. They don't have much food suggestions.<br/ <br/ Bolonganize with bread toast very nice twist of bite. Then I like their saffron orzo pasta good balance taste. Calamari really wow for me with parsley dust.<br/ <br/ Only thing don't like the dessert, just a braised peach with ice cream not so nice.<br/ <br/ But over all its good option for first try...