The Stokehouse: Iconic Melbourne restaurant burns down.

Yesterday I was one of many people that were very sad to hear that this beautiful, iconic restaurant in the beachside suburb of St Kilda had burned down on Friday night. So many people have celebrated special occasions in this fine-dining restaurant. I celebrated my 40th birthday there. It was very memorable because of the food, service and the view of Port Phillip Bay on a hot, Summer day. The building itself was a 110 year old weatherboard building that looked like a beach house. I believe the owners are going to rebuild and I look forward to going again when it reopens.

The Stokehouse, St Kilda

For my birthday in February, my friend Mel and I went to The Stokehouse in St Kilda for lunch.  It’s a restaurant I’ve wanted to go to for a long time.  It’s right on St Kilda beach giving magnificent views of  Port Phillip Bay.  It was a beautiful warm summers day which made the view perfect.

We arrived a little early and the somewhat snooty maitre ‘d told us we would have to wait outside so we went for a bit of a walk around.  We passed a man who was just waking up who had fallen asleep under a tree beside the restaurant.  We weren’t sure if he was homeless or just decided to have a sleep there.

When we re-entered the restaurant we were led upstairs to the restaurant and shown to a window table.  I was hoping to sit near a window so I could enjoy the view.  The waitress came over and explained what the specials were.  I decided to order my entree and main meal from their main menu.  I ate Seared Atlantic scallops, ruby grapefruit salad and a fennel puree.  It was delicious.  The scallops were cooked to perfection.  Mel ordered Tuna carpaccio, tamarillos, yoghurt, caperberries, salmon roe.

For our main meals, I ate Crispy battered King George whiting fillets, hand cut chips, lemon and tartare sauce .  Mel ate ocean trout with prawns and a tomato salad.  Neither of us ate dessert.  I could only just finish my fish.  I left a lot of the hand cut chips because I told eat many chips and the waitress was worried I didn’t like them.  They were very nice.

When it came to the wine list there were three choices in the Sparking Wine section of the list.  The $25 glass of wine caught my eye but I thought I’d better not spend that much even though it was a nice wine (I can’t remember what it was).  A few minutes later I thought “what the hell” and decided to order it.  It was my birthday after all.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.