Trunk Bar & Restaurant

Location: 275 Exhibition Street, Melbourne 3000
Phone: (03) 9663 7994
Link: www.trunktown.com.au

Cuisine: Italian

Off the plane and first stop is Trunk Bar & Restaurant for lunch. We hadn't made a booking and the place was fully booked, but the staff were accommodating and found us a nice table next to the window anyway. 

warm bread and olive oil

You know you're at a good restaurant when they offer complimentary bread that is actually warm. Slices of toasted focaccia bread arrived at our table with some olive within minutes of ordering. The bread smelt amazing and was soft and fluffy inside, crispy on the outside.

soft shell chilli crab

Hands down one of the best soft shell crabs I've ever had. A light tempura batter coated large pieces of soft shell crab, so crispy that a small press of the knife snaps the pieces into manageable pieces. The crab is sweet and juicy, perfectly cooked. And then there was the seasoning - a good kick of chilli (but not overpowering), ample salt, and refreshing herbs to break it all up. It was a generous serve, but not so huge as to fill you up before the main. 

house-made saffron linguine with prawns, calamari,
scallops, garlic, chilli, lemon & torn rocket

As if I hadn't had enough seafood already, I ordered the seafood linguine. The linguine was rustic-looking and thicker than usual, but had a nice springy texture. There was plenty of seafood, and all were cooked to perfection. The sauce was rich and infused with seafood flavours and coated the linguine well. A nice hearty dish to fight off some of the cold outside!

I was very impressed by the quality of service - even though we hadn't made a booking, they had seated us, and surprisingly there was no rush to get us out. Food arrived in a timely manner and the waiters were friendly and polite. Definitely a place that can be done during a lunch break, but also good for a cruisey long lunch if you can afford to take the extra time.

A good way to start a weekend of feasting in Melbourne!

Overall Impression: 8.5/10