Langlands Restaurant and Bar, Hyatt Centric Melbourne

Langlands Restaurant and Bar, Hyatt Centric Melbourne

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Posted 2023-08-22 by Nadine Cresswell-Myattfollow


We chatted to a local patron on the way down in the lift from Langlands Restaurant on the 25th floor of the Hyatt Centric Melbourne. Not that it was a slow lift, but when descending 25 floors, there’s a chance to say more than hello.

She told us she’d been dining solo. “I live in the suburbs but come here twice a week to de-stress. I sip a cocktail, look at the city unfurled below me, eat the fantastic food, and get my busy life into perspective.”

Her act of self-kindness in treating herself made me think about how most of us don’t spoil ourselves enough. And if we do, we rarely think about taking ourselves up high to eat in a city hotel except when travelling or for a special occasion.

Yet for not much more than the present cost of a steak at a suburban pub, we could live the high life at Langlands Restaurant and Bar at the Hyatt Centric Melbourne.

Location
The Hyatt Centric, a hip hotel with interiors by Hecker Guthrie, opened in 2021 at the corner of Flinders Lane and Downie Street.

Like many of Melbourne’s laneway gems, the hotel’s entrance is tucked away. The Hyatt Centric has different vibes from the better-known and long-established Park Hyatt up near Parliament. The Hyatt Centric brand is cosmopolitan, Urban-cool, reflecting Melbourne's vibrant street culture. This creative hotel is the first Hyatt Centric hotel in Australia.

And Langlands, the restaurant is bound to become a hot spot for local patrons and travellers because of the location; only a three-minute wander from Southern Cross Station, but mainly for the views and innovative food.

Views
Langlands Restaurant and Bar take up the entire 25th floor, and the floor-to-ceiling glass provides diners with a dramatic backdrop view. Southern Cross Station’s pitted roof-line looks like waves of egg cartons from above.

This end of Melbourne is experiencing a building boom, and the huge cranes, lit by neon, slash through the night sky like Star Wars sabres. The 360-degree panorama takes in the Yarra River, the city skyline, Docklands, the Southbank precincts, and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

As Hyatt Centric is close to Melbourne’s bustling transport system, it’s like watching a kid’s train set at your feet. The massive trains resemble toy trains trundling over the Flinders Street Viaduct, the bridge linking Flinders Street and Southern Cross Stations.

Like Sofitel Melbourne with its 35th Floor, there are loos with views. And like Eureka 89 , this bar and restaurant is a great place for date night because of the panorama of city lights to enjoy while sipping cocktails, as well as being a place for inner reflection if you are travelling or dining solo.

Reasons to Dine Here
But the main reason to visit Langlands Restaurant and Bar is the newly appointed head Chef Ryan Dunn’s seasonal and innovative Mediterranean-inspired menus featuring Victorian produce.

Dunn is passionate about local, sustainable food, and his menu showcases Victorian producers. His dishes have surprising twists that linger in one’s foodie memory long after your superlative meal here has ended.

He has masterminded smaller plates, such as Ortiz Anchovy Toast paired with creamy burrata and fresh tomato relish, Hiramasa Kingfish with green chilli, lime, and dill (a star!) and Truffle Fries with a mix of daikon and grated aged parmesan. As well as larger plates such as Casarecce seasonal mushrooms cooked with porcini, cavolo nero, or Hazeldenes Free Range Chicken with chilli sambal and apple slaw.


Our Dining Experience
We began with a smokey eggplant dish, prepared with garlic, lemon, and parsley, scooping it up on sourdough bread (V $17), lightly pan-fried to a stunning golden brown. The delicious oasis on the plate was much more than a simple dip with the pleasant smoky flavour arising from the ‘deliberate charring of the purple skin and the lusciousness of the eggplant’s flesh.

My companion chose the falafels with hummus, pickled onion, and herbs ($17). This small plate was almost a full meal. The Hummus was whipped to a cloud and full of umami flavour. The pickled red onions, with their sweetness, balanced the flavours, but their vibrant colour offset the vivid green avalanche of herbs.

For main, I ordered the Gippsland Lamb Shank on a pea risotto with Persian fetta ($37). Usually, shanks come on a bed of mash, so resting the shank over a pea-green sea of risotto was a different take from an old favourite. The meat was so tender it fell from the bone with a touch of a fork, and the Persian-style feta added a creamed consistency to the risotto —a comfort food dish to remember.

My companion chose the barramundi, which came with crushed Kipflers, fried oysters, citrus, and burnt butter ($38)—a pescatarian tower with the novelty of fried oysters and the sudden refreshing bites into mandarin.

The staff had checked with us about allergies at the beginning of the meal, and due to my companion’s allergy to strawberries, the waiter suggested we forgo the pav, with fresh berries, curd, and strawberry sorbet, despite it being a showstopper.

Instead, we shared the Native tiramisu wattle seed sponge with mascarpone ($18), a decadent chocolate creation with layers of creamy white cheese decorated precisely with bright red drupelets from raspberries. The twist was the addition of native wattle seeds, which had a nutty, coffee-chocolate taste.

Small plates ranged in price from $12 for fries with secret spice and aioli to $28 for a half-dozen Tasmanian oysters. Mains start at $29 for the Wagyu beef cheeseburger with caramelised onion, bread & butter pickles and fries and go up to $56 for the Southern Ranges MB2 Porterhouse—most are around the $35 mark. Be aware of the 15% surcharge on Sundays and public holidays.


Drinks
Meals are paired perfectly with the wine and cocktail menu. The bar takes inspiration from botanicals, with Gintonicas and alcohol-free cocktails that guests can dress with their choice of Mediterranean herbs served alongside local coffee, craft beers, and spirits from local distillers.

But we stuck with wine, given the local selections. For example, I teamed my lamb shank with a Rob Dolan (Warrandyte on the cusp of the Yarra Valley) 2018 True Colours Cab, Shiraz, Merlot bursting with the ripe, juicy flavours of blackberry and plum.

Seating

Most seats give diners access to the panoramic views through the floor-to-ceiling windows. But if seated at the tables, one diner may have their back to the view. The best tables to book would be the lower armchair style seats where both chairs face out to the views, and diners are directly next to the huge windows (as long as you don’t mind heights).

Food is then served on a lower table between two guests. Given the wide selection of smaller plates, this would be perfect for a Mezze-style spread for grazing.

Service
Friendly, definitely not stuffy or over formal. But nice touches like hanging your coat, discussing allergies before ordering and providing wine recommendations to complement dishes. The staff wear , an independent Australian fashion brand founded by Amanda Cumming and Kate Reynolds. If I'd known that beforehand, I might have looked closer at what they were wearing. But it’s one of those details that blend in to create a hotel feel that’s so chic but unpretentiously trendy - so Melbourne!

Details
Langlands Restaurant and Bar is open Monday - Sunday for lunch from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM and dinner from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

To make a reservation at Langlands Restaurant and Bar, Best Seats in the House

Langlands Restaurant & Bar
25 Downie Street, Level 25, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
Phone: 91201234
Website and bookings

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#dinner
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#date_night
#solo_dining
#lunch
#hotels
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#travel
#hyatt_hotels
#world_of_hyatt
262096 - 2023-08-22 05:22:34

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