The Meatball & Wine Bar

As a birthday gift to my best friend, I thought it would be nice to treat her to a special birthday lunch. We are both obsessed with anything food related (cooking/reading/eating/watching) and you can often find us on a friday night watching marathons of Food Safari (and I'm not even kidding...sad?).

She is a lasagna loving italian bella who is a wizz in the kitchen. One of her specialties is traditional Italian meatballs- so I thought we should go and compare her meatballs to those found at the newly opened Meatball & Wine Bar.

Man posing

Two doors down from Chin Chin is where you will find this little beauty. The shopfront is small and high seats are found on entry, with a long bar running down the side of the restaurant.

We were seated at the end of the bar. There was a huge list of wines, and being the non-appreciative wine drinker I am, I left it up to the waiter to decide. I have to admit I am starting to enjoy wine more and more...sometimes I even order it instead of my beloved vodka...

A system exists at The Meatball and Wine Bar. Pretty much, they sell meatballs and, yep, wine. But the deal is, you choose which type of meatball you like (chicken, pork, beef, fish or vegetarian), what sauce you would like with it (tomato, white sauce or salsa verde) and whether or not you want your balls (hehe) with something to sit on (polenta, italian style beans, green vegies, potato smash or homemade pasta). There are also some other goodies like mini meatball burgers, cured meat platters and sides to choose from.

We decided to get a couple of different balls and sides, and share everything. We went with the pork ball (with fennel, sage + orange) with Italian tomato sauce, on creamy polenta ($18).

The chicken (with pistachios, muscatels + parmesan) ball was next. We ordered it with the Italian beans and creamy white sauce ($18).

The caprese salad ($8) was fresh and went perfectly with the balls.

The meals weren't huge, but it was a great for a simple lunch. The concept of the whole place is clever, and after only being open for a month or two, The Meatball and Wine Bar seems to be gaining a strong following and lots of love from city dwellers, bloggers, and food lovers around Melbourne.

In the end, everyone loves good balls.

The Meatball & Wine Bar
135 Flinders Lane, Melbourne CBD