The Press Club

Posted by: Lizwindsor | 20 July 2011, 2.34am

Been a couple of times and tried Hellenic Republic and find its little sister much better in terms of taste and casualness. Press is good for if I'm on a more formal date and that is only because of its good service and luxurious feel

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Posted by: TheFoodDoctor | 4 October 2010, 8.48pm

our 2nd time at press club - whilst this time George was not around, his staff certainly took care of us. We got a very a nice quite table and ordered the degustation with the matching wines. Food - amazing, desert - left us wanting more!
Will be sure to be back again soon and also to check out the lil press club! YUMMMM

Food:			Visit: Sat 21 August 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: TRUEPHANTOM | 23 June 2010, 6.02am

Mine was a MasterChef inspired weekend. I have never been fine dining before but this has given me the taste. It was my second fine dining experience of the weekend but theirs was the best by far. I was seated at the Chef's table and got a great insight on how a well-oiled kitchen operates. It was amazing to watch. I'm a stickler for perfection as well.

I had the Symposium with the Wine Ariston to match. What great flavours of all the courses!!! I can't pick out anything in particular as it all tasted delicious. The choice of wines was tops as well. I'm not a big wine drinker but they were all good.

I also want to commend one of their great staff, Krystal. Krystal was my main attendant and epitomised the essence of service and hospitality. Whenever I was waiting or feeling 'unloved', Krystal seemed to sense this and would appear with her great smile and life was good again. Her demeanour and vibe were fantastic as was the ambience of the whole place. It didn't seem that long but I was there for 4 hours. It was the staff that made it such an exceptional night, especially Krystal. If they have a monthly service award, she would be a worthy recipient.

I also want to comment on their pastry chef apprentice, Kate. During our chats, I sensed Kate could really go places. I feel she has a lot of potential. The passion in her voice when she talked about food was inspiring. If they have some sort of potential/apprentice award, Kate would be a worthy recipient.

I'm not downplaying the rest of the service staff's efforts. They were all fantastic and gave me great service as well. It's just these 2 ladies stood out in my perception.

Overall, on a MasterChef scale, I give it a 9/10.

Food:			Visit: Sun 13 June 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: City Slicker | 7 June 2010, 1.04am

Had a wonderful night at the Press Club in their Private
Dining Room. We were fussed over all night as tasting after tasting came out. Could not of asked for more.
The only small downside was that the Private
Dining Room was very noisy as their acoustics need work.

Food:			Visit: Wed 2 June 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: donaldy87 | 2 June 2010, 2.03pm

Service was great - very attentive, explained each dish thoroughly, and didn't have to flag someone down once throughout the night. Chicken entree was a little bland, but the rest of the entrees were quite nice, particularly the smoked salmon. Mains - pig and lamb neck were nice, decent sized portions. However, it was the kakavia (fish platter) that was the let down. Pretty uninspiring stuff - couple of different fish fillets chucked onto a grill, and then a greek latholemono sauce drizzled over the top of it all. Like kiwikaryn wrote, after halfway it just becomes a chore to chomp through the rest of the fillets.

Food:			Visit: Wed 2 June 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: strawberryflour | 9 May 2010, 10.14pm

My mum had left a bunch of flowers with them and then came to meet me. They were very happy to keep them in the fridge until we arrived and when we did there they were on the table with a card wishing me happy birthday from The Press Club...nice touch.
We enjoyed almost everything with the big exception of an octopus dish, we sent it back it was over salted and really unpleasant.
But the sweets were the icing on the cake...just sensational!...more baklava please!

Food:			Visit: Fri 9 October 2009 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: kiwikaryn | 28 April 2010, 1.49pm

The Press Club was a big disappointment, and having eaten at all the other 2 Hat restaurants, I had high expectations of the Press Club being worthy of inclusion in this select group.

My entree was lovely, well presented, and I have no complaints there. However the $92 seafood platter was served cold, the fish fillet was full of small bones, the prawn was overcooked and seemed recycled from the entree dish, and everything tasted bland and insipid. Overall it tasted like everything had been thrown on the grill together and then served up, rather than being cooked separately with individual flavours and seasonings. In addition, one of my dining companions had the pork, which he couldn't eat as he said it was the consistency of rubber.
For the price and reputation I expected much much better. Leave this one off the list.

Food:			Visit: Sat 17 April 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: zoroisalive | 18 November 2009, 9.49am

the place is better than the food. sweets are very good.

Food:			Visit: Wed 18 November 2009 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: MK22 | 5 October 2009, 2.39pm

We chose the symposium menu for our dinner and were very disappointed.
We paid $95 per head and expected food with a bit more substance. One of the dishes was just a tarama dip served with hot chips in a paper cup???
Food presentation was so over the top it bordered on being ridiculous! The smoked octopus was served underneath a "terracotta flower pot" which was removed by the waiter at the table.
I found the flavour of the food itself an odd mix of sweet and sour, and definitely not worth paying $95
However I cannot fault the staff, as they were very knowledgeable about the menu, and provided excellent service throughout the evening.

Food:			Visit: Sat 3 October 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: kingfish | 30 September 2009, 12.49pm

Service was fanatastic and the staff were very friendly, welcoming and had a sound knowledge and understanding of the menu and the chef's interpretation of a modern greek cuisine. Spent 2 hours indulging in the symposium menu and loved the slow cooked lamb and you cannot get enough of the olive oil chocolate mouse and ouzo sorbet! Yes, expensive but hey worth the experience and your tastebuds will enjoy!
Worth going!

Food:			Visit: Tue 29 September 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: Rita1966 | 28 September 2009, 12.52pm

After visiting the Press Club on a number of occasions with my partner and friends and always having the Kerasma menu. We were dissapointed to discover on our recent visit that the kerasma menu was not an option at dinner time. We were offered a new option called the Symposium menu. This consists of a seven courses with deserts. This cost us about $115.00 per head with out drinks. A couple of the dishes were quite nice, but overall the food was dissapointing and fairly bland. The imagination seems to have dissapeared. Not worth the money.

Food:			Visit: Sun 27 September 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: zander75 | 3 September 2009, 2.42pm

Having started our honeymoon in Mykonos just under a year ago, we figured it appropriate to head to argubly "the best Greek spot in Melbourne" to cap off a weekend of fine dinning. Boy did we make the right choice.

The Press Club is on the ground floor of the Melbourne Herald newspaper, occupying both a 75-100 seat dinning space & a smaller "meze" & cocktail bar across the hall. Dimly lit but with an energetic beaming kitchen, this is definitely a spot for a special night.

A small downfall would be the options...TOO many! There is a la carte, a $130 degustation, Kerasma A ($79 4 courses without dessert) & Kerasma B (5 with dessert). Holding THREE menus in our hands juggling the options was a bit too much, but in the end we opted for Kerasma B which offered us a meze platter, selection of entrees, fish course & meat course selection and desserts.

WOW! It was worth the deliberation! The meze platter featured a tomato/spring onion gin tea w/ grilled Saganaki that melted in our mouths, & another skewer of calamari & sardine. Entrees were just as good with a liverwurst pate & chocolate crustini with grape & fetta salad, a mussel wrapped in coconut threads & calliflower reduction, & a warm soup of mellow heavenly goodness. A beautiful aubergene/beetroot salad accompanied a perfectly cooked piece of swordfish, simple but brilliant. And finally the best lamb (neck) I've ever had that fell off the bone at the touch, served with kipler potatoes & a greek creamy salad. Capped off with a chocolate & mastic tart with cherry sorbet & honey doughnuts...

SO FULL! Almost uncomfortably so. Add in the copious bread which our waitress Adeer generously offered, looking after us well, always topping up our glass & offering more bread. Where we were going to fit it after the generous feast, who knows?

They even threw in a card from the Chef George himself! Very impressed.

Food:			Visit: Sun 23 August 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: Monrad | 15 July 2009, 1.59pm

Greek Shmeek....
The service was excellent, very friendly and attentive without being over the top and intrusive.
I was really looking forward to the meal at the Press Club but was very disappointed.
I found the food to be fussy and lacking real substance.
Going to a restaurant with such a great reputation I expect that I would have one of those WOW moments of amazing deliciousness, but that never happened.
The lamb, being from a Greek Restaurant I expected to be spot on was very average and the side dishes of Greek salad and potatoes was just bland.
Definitely wont be going there again.
I enjoy spending money on great food but paying the $500 bill I could not help leaving with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Food:			Visit: Wed 15 July 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: k8h | 14 July 2009, 2.07pm

Having heard much of the hype surrounding The Press Club, I was very much looking forward to eating here.

Oh, but how disappointing! Never have I had such over-wraught food in my life. The food was too clever for its own good, and the result was at best tasteless with a terrible texture, and at worst laughingly inedible. With one saving grace - a superb lamb dish served at the end of the meal, when we were too full to really enjoy it.

To add insult to injury, the waiter forced upon us a wine that was so ludiciously miss-matched with the flavours of the meal that it was completely undrinkable (herring & a sticky white, anyone?).

all and all, a complete joke of a meal.
spend your dollars somewhere else people.

Food:			Visit: Thu 18 June 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: linguini. | 17 December 2008, 9.44pm

As I was getting ready I recived a call from The Press Club confirming my booking. From that call I was already getting excited to visit it. As I arived at 12pm I walked in to this magnificent place and was just amazed.

As I was seated the waiter greeted my party and explained the menu from top to bottom. Even though I didn't try every dish I felt like I did by the way the waiter was explaining each dish. I felt as if this waiter was the best I've come across. Kerasma luch is the best way to enjoy your experience there. The lady fingers would have been the highlight and stood out from the rest although each dish was so enjoyable. I would come again every soon.

Food:			Visit: Tue 16 December 2008 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: M&B | 2 December 2008, 10.10am

We visited The Press Club for a birthday celebration, full of anticipation due the the hype & reviews.
The dining area, while very stylish was vey dark - to a point where i had to lean across another (unoccupied) table to put the menu directly under a down light so that i could read it.
The food was very "rustic" in nature & presentation (out of step with the rooms swish design?) with nice flavours. The portions were quite large for fine dining establishment - luckily our waiter warned us of this, so a shared entree, a main & a salad was more than enough.

Food:			Visit: Sat 31 May 2008 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: LWL | 29 July 2008, 10.51am

As a reasonably regular luncher and an enjoyer of many of Melbourne fixed price lunches I was sort of aware of what I was getting into at the Press Club. $37 for 2 courses, $45 for 3 but no glass of wine in each case.

It was a cold and wet day and certainly the Press Club is well heated and we had a very nice table. Cutting to the chase the Hellenic Trifle for dessert was excellent. The main courses I didn't like. The mezze plate presentation or much of what was on it. Cubed beetroot with a purple sauce, etc. The entree of Japanese eggplant with scallops was delicate and petite.. possibly not hot enough when it reached the table but quite a work of art.

As others have alluded to here the prices are not cheap. I had the barramundi (a $7 surcharge on the fixed price). Wine by the glass seemed to start around $10. For my mind my glass was not really what I considered a decent measure or for me quite cold enough. I guess the purists will say chilling white wine can kill the flavour.

For 2 of us the bill was around $110 for what I considered a pretty average lunch. George has taken a leaf out of perhaps the Italians notebook where all the sides are extra. Our extra potatoes were quite nice. Sweets and entrees aside I'd have been just as happy with something a bit more straightforward and traditional for the mains.

I believe comparisions are not encouraged here. But compared to say the fixed price lunch at the Park Hyatt where you get the best of everything including a generous glass of wine, great food and valet parking for under $40, the Press Clubs lunch special is not even in the hunt.

I could not honestly recommend this place to anyone. Unless someone else is paying or they enjoy the let us select what you eat format here and the suprise when the bill comes!

Food:			Visit: Mon 28 July 2008 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: The3Glutoneers | 17 June 2008, 2.49pm

Great lunch special offered, a bit of a last minute descision to dine on the day but we walked away knowing we made the right descision. All of the staff were wonderfull & the food was superb. My only dissapointment was with the wine list, I felt there was little to offer the low to mid priced consumer, we opted for a $50 Beaujolais because there really were not any other options.

Food:			Visit: Tue 17 June 2008 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: Registered user - name withheld | 3 March 2008, 1.05pm

This experience was magical!
It by far was the best meal we have experienced. The food and service was divine. Great atmosphere and we will become regulars. It is great to eat food which has imagination.

Food:			Visit: Mon 3 March 2008 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: GJW | 23 July 2007, 12.18pm

What a great night. The food was superb as was the staff. We also met George Calombaris who very friendly and down to earth. We can now understand why this place is so popular. Highly recommended.

Food:			Visit: Sat 21 July 2007 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: vivv | 5 June 2007, 10.53pm

We had the Kerasma lunch and were impressed with both the food and the service. The food was creative and delicious, and the staff were fun, friendly and helpful. We met George Calombaris who was lovely, and my boyfriend was presented with a cute chocolate birthday suprise! We had such a good time!

Food:			Visit: Thu 31 May 2007 Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by: V1V1 | 16 December 2006, 8.27pm

This is Greek to the point of extreme. On the night we went, service was not good. Staff may know what they are doing normally but this night they were chaotic. Drinks ordered were never delivered yet charged for. As for the food, it seings the pendulum just a bit too far. Far from the humdrum Greek we have grown to expect but the finesse in the technique is overshadowed by being over the top in its components. Baklava stuffed Calamari? Why? Greeks can use so many other more palatable ingredients why then go to the ridiculous when you could go to the sublime. I for one will not be going back. Too many other good restaurants to try or revisit.

Food:			Visit: Fri 17 November 2006 Mealtime: dinner
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