~ Curious Charlie ~

Father's Bank on Collins @ Thursday, November 19, 2015

Saturday 17th October

From the creators of Father's Office (The Retail Savvy Group) comes 'The Bank on Collins'. Built in 1838 from New Zealand Omaru stone, with ornate metal balustrades, this opulent site is listed with the Australian Heritage Commission and the National Trust of Australia as a heritage site. It was a bank, The ANZ Bank moved in 1974, ending 98 years of occupancy.

I can see dance events happening here, 20s style.

The Bar

There's booths, cafe style round tables as well as your regular tables. It was like a dinning hall with very high ceilings and a bar that took up a side. From the pictures you'll see as you walk in there's a bar on the left, the longest I've seen, and the resturant to the right.

View from the Window

We sat at the back, with great lighting (Father's Office after dark had "mood lighting") and ordered...

Crumbed Lamb Cutlet Salad $21

Three juicy lamb cutlets with a pistachio and cashew nut atop a bed of orange and mustard seed vinaigrette dressed radicchio (radish?) and wild roquette (rocket) with kalamata olives.

We ordered a salad to share, which was delicious! - For a salad. This is the best salad I've had in a long time (note that I am on lite n' easy wk2). The lamb was juicy and so good, this would be a dish my dietician would approve of. Freud refused to eat the salad, as he does not eat green things. He is a very picky eater, and is a regular at McD/HJ and hates sushi *gasps!*. At Father's Office there's something for everyone, even Freud and the kids, they also have high chairs, which Freud being a giraffe did not need.

250g Eye Fillet $25

Medium rare, pan seared and roasted. Served with truffled mash and house

made gravy. Plus your choice of condiment (Freud picked red wine jus).

"Although I'm no true food critic, I am a picky eater. I ordered the eye fillet. The Eye fillet was delicious, medium rare. It wasn't chewy, it separated nicely and was perfectly complemented by the jus condiment. I'm not as familiar with truffle mash, though I found it enjoyable and would highly recommend this dish." - Freud

Looks like we have found our new +1 for events that don't require wine knowledge! Please welcome Freud aboard, who is also an analyist like me. He's also a scrooge, when it comes to money and hence is a true accountant/banker who's an expert at splitting the bill down to the cent. On the spectum of genrous to not he sits on the opposite end to Jas.

Herbed Dijon, Lemon and Thyme Roasted Free Range Chicken Breast $25

with Pasrship Pureee & Sauteed Honey Baby Carrots.

I let Freud pick for me from a small selection that I couldn't decide on. Being a new venue he picked something I haven't had before, the chicken. Looks small but it's filling and healthy.

It was cooked perfectly, with a beautiful crispy skin, though needs a squeese of lemon and perhaps cranberry sauce on the side. The sauteed honey baby carrots were also delicious, sweet and cute!

This is the best meal I've had in a very long time. As I'm on lite n' easy wk2 and my dinners are frozen. I'd recommend all the dishes I've tried as everything's a hit, both here and at Father's.

Fish & Chips $18

Seasonal white fish, coated in a rosemary and ginger beer batter,

shallow fried and served with salad, shoestring fries and tartate sauce.

Lola's an expert on seafood and had the fish and chips which to our surprise came with shoestring aka McDonald style fries, as it normally comes with your typical hot chips, which is what you get at fish & chip shops. The fries were good.

The bank sports the same menu (with the exception of dessert) as Father's Office, but the setting and atmosphere is completely different. It's larger and with the location being away from main street, it caters for the suits. Also they're closed on Sundays.

There's an upstairs area, but you can't sit up there, as it belongs to the hotel next door, but the bathrooms are up there. Stairs to go upstairs are outside the restaurant.

Upstairs

Checking out the bar.

As an opening offer we got the BOGOF so paid $50 in total for the four dishes, which is a great deal! But we all agreed that the dishes are worth full price. I'd eat here more often if I made more money (work doesn't actually offer me any shifts, manager doesn't like me). But we'll be sticking to Father's Office after 11pm.

While no one know this Freud & I are on the student budget, but only one of us is crazy stingy. The other is an expert at finding deals, offers and freebies, as it's something we tend to do as a nation. Back home we have tv shows about extreme couponing. The average person loves couponing! The upper class look down at it.

Service was very good, one of the waiters recognized me (it's the accent isn't it?) :P as a regular. Though he did forget a dish, completely understandable though as we ordered 4 dishes for 3 people, and all three were considered mains. The fish & chips was the forgotten dish.

On Saturday night as it had just opened and was fairly unknown (I'm hoping they'll have a launch and we'll get an invite :P) they closed after we left. While we were there there were about 20 others there, max. It was nice and quiet.

Did you know they do all the events here too? Across both levels they can have up to 700 people and do weddings too. Indoor weddings are ideal in Melbourne thanks to the weather.

We had a great meal and shall be back! Hoping to get the kids' meal as sliders are awesome!

Were they any places that you just had to try as soon as they opened? The only other place where we got in fast was T by Luxbite as we were lucky enough to get tickets. :) We dinned at the bank on the 3rd day that they were open.

Have you been to Father's Office? Or the Bank?