The Waiting Room

Another one of Neil Perry's eateries (or in this case, cocktail bar). The Waiting Room is in the atrium/foyer area of Crown. It is a slick space, as you would expect, in a similar vein to Aria @ at the Langham.

Given its claim to being a cocktail bar, I expected a little more finesse in the drinks department (or perhaps, its just me). I won't rant too much, but I have to say this - the rancio martini was just freaken potent. I mean...more potent than I would have expected  and was almost undrinkable (note the almost...it still didn't stop me). Gin, Sherry, Absinth. I'll stick to something more standard next time...rather than their "modern prescriptions".

The food, was ok but not spectacular. We had montaditos (skewers, to the left) which were nice. Probably more suitable with a beer in a different environment - but thats me. I like to eat certain things in certain situations. On the right, was an empanada of chorizo and something else. It was your typical empanada, but nothing stand out.

Roasted eggplant sandwich with peppers and hummus to the left was a massive toasted sandwich. It was massive and it was toasted. That is all. On the right, garlic prawns were flavourful, but as you can probably gather by now, it wasn't anything that went BANG! It just helped the potent booze go down.

The moorish lamb shoulder, was way over seasoned. WAY over seasoned. And I like salt. This was just WAY too much salt.

Overall, the waiting room provides a nice space at Crown (esp if you're waiting for seats at a restaurant because you didn't book), but the drinks, perhaps the ones I had, weren't that great. Maybe it's me...but seriously I think I've got a bit of a clue as to what is drinkable/edible and what isn't!! Worth a try..but that's probably it...just once.

Where?
The Waiting Room, Crown, Melbourne