5-week challenge: Lunch at RACV City Club Bistro

[AdamGT]

This post is my entry in @KlaudiyaG 's third week of the five-week Local Guides challenge (the Food & Drink Challenge). It’s about the impressive Royal Automobile Club of Victoria’s Bistro (known as RACV Club Bistro) located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD at 501 Bourke Street, Melbourne, the last restaurant I visited 6-days ago with a group of friends to celebrate a number of special events including coming out of our last COVID-19 lockdown.

The RACV Club boasts an impressive range of dining options including Members’ Dining Room, Gallery Lounge, Carbine Bar, Wine Bar, Le Petit Gâteau Patisserie, Bistro and Coffee Lounge. On this occasion we decided on having lunch in the Bistro.

We enjoyed an à la carte lunch. The menu included a good range of main dishes, salads and light meals. Children are also well catered for with highchairs and a special children’s menu. I had the Salt & Pepper Calamari served wtih sweet tamarind, lemon entree and the Maple Glazed Salmon served with chargrilled zucchini, fennel, corn and orzo, tomato chimichurri as my main (see photo below). The collage of four photos above shows the mains that my friends had: clockwise (1) Gippsland Tenderlion 200g, served wtih mash and gravy, (2) Classic Caesar including cos lettuce, bacon, poached egg, croutons, anchovy and parmesan, (3) Club Sandwich with chicken, bacon, egg, and iceberg with fries on the side, and (4) Butter Chicken wtih saffron basmati rice and naan bread.

The food was great and nicely presented, and the service was excellent. I also loved the ambience of the Bistro’s open three-storey, spacious and well lit design. It’s in a great city location with front door public transport as well as on-site parking. We all had a great and most enjoyable time. Some of us stayed back for a few hours after lunch and I wondered around adoring the amazing the other facilities and antique automobiles located throughout the RACV City Club.

Not only was this my last restaurant visit, I was totally surprised to be the very first person to add a review and photos of the RACV City Club Bistro on Google Maps. Being the first gave me the privledge of having one of my photos as the Bistro’s feature photo and in just 6 days it has garnered almost 2,500 views

Here is my review and photos of the RACV City Club Bistro on Google Maps. I have to add that visiting this place was like visiting an antique car museum. I love dining out at a place that has a bit of a “twist” to it, and this place certainly has!

[Sophia_Cambodia]

They all look yummy @AdamGT thanks for sharing them!

Missing the fish and chips & steak in NZ.

[AdamGT]

Totally agree @Sophia_Cambodia . Mine looks and actually was quite humble compared to the meals of my hungry friends lol. Oh couldn’t agree with you more, the New Zealand fish n chips are the best!

[sophie_fusion]

Waoow… food looks amazing… m sure your tummy must be jubilant nevertheless the ambiance looks brilliant too

[AdamGT]

Yes the food was great and you guessed right @sophie_fusion , the ambiance was simply amazing!

[Sophia_Cambodia]

First time I ate something so good and only found there @AdamGT missing it so bad!

[AdamGT]

I understand what you mean @Sophia_Cambodia . I think it was in Dunedin that I had the best fish n chips. Do you recall where you had yours?

[Sophia_Cambodia]

I think it was in Wellington @AdamGT from then, I got the habit of trying every fish and chips shop in NZ wherever I went. I think the one in Kilbirnie in Wellington from Chinese owner is the best.

[Traisi]

Очень было интересно читать. Еда привлекла внимание, выглядит соблазнительно. С автомобилями интересная задумка

[SoniaK]

This seems to be a fancy and elegant restaurant. I like the vintage cars displayed. Very nice. The food photos made me start drooling, especially your salmon and that steak. Do I see a bowl of tikka masala at the bottom right corner of the collage? Thank you for sharing the post @AdamGT . It really looks like a car museum with food. I bet, the food was equally tasty too.

[karinchavoll]

@AdamGT what a nice place, and the food especially the fries looks amazing!

[AdamGT]

Yes the food was great and like you @Traisi I enjoyed seeing all these vintage cars. It certainly was a restaurant with difference which made it really interesting. As I wrote it was like having a delicious meal at an antique car museum. We all enjoyed it so much so that a few of us stayed for a few hours after lunch and I took a few photos.

[AdamGT]

It certainly was a restaurant on the upmarket side @SoniaK and I had the feeling from first walking into the foyer where we had to see a front desk custodian, do a formal COVID-19 check-in before proceeding to the restaurant. The food was certainly good and the vintage cars gave the whole experience a real touch of difference. I’d forgotten that I hadn’t described the meals in the collage so have added this now and you’ll see that the meal you asked about is a Butter Chicken served wtih saffron basmati rice and naan bread.

[AdamGT]

Hi @karinchavoll , yes definitely a nice place with amazing food. Fries are always tempting! After I’d seen my friend’s serves I somehow still managed to resist the temptation to order the fries with aiolo and rosemary salt on the side

[BeatrizAguilar]

Oh my goodness @AdamGT ! Perhaps I couldn’t eat in a place like that, surrounded of all antique beautiful cars even though that I love to eat because they’d represent a distraction for me. How is the tip % in a bistro like that?

[AdamGT]

Hi @BeatrizAguilar

Not really a distraction but definitely a bonus and the antique cars are very appropriate in this place because after all it is the City Club of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria. In Australia we don’t have set tipping % as such. We tip freely and I think on tis occasion the tip was about 10% of the total bill which was $450. I have the bill somewhere as I paid by CC.