Markov Place

Excellent food with snacks, share plates and classics — burger, steaks, fantastic gnocchi. Good vego selection. Very good selection of beers and wines by the glass. A bit noisy. Daily deals — burger, fries and pot Tues $ 15. Recommended.

Markov is good for snacks or light meals, as the menu is quite limited. It’s better for drinks– Wines, beer and others. It can get packed and crowded pretty quickly, especially, in the backroom, The front tends to be a bit quieter. Great place to escape the vilification and abuse of the frustratingly annoying «spruikers» of near by Lygon street that want to guilt trip you into their establishments with psychological trickery.

I like Markov, I really like it. It’s a cool place with a bar and seating area at the front of the joint and second one at the back w/​high tables/​chairs and big TV screen, where we watched Kangas take on and knock over the Hawks on Friday night… Alright, Go Kangas!
The front feels more intimate with dim lights, low tables and stools. The back area is more suited for groups and if you want to grab something to eat as well. Their drinks menu is quite extensive with a range of cocktails, wine, scotch and some good beers as well.
We ordered the crispy prawns, wings (heads up: if you can’t do spicy, stay away from those!), wedges and mussels and they were really good. The staff were really nice and and friendly as well.
Thinking about the food, I’m kicking myself for not trying their burger. I’ll definitely have a go next time.

Amazing, hot wings i’d say. Best in Melbourne! Burgers on Tuesday nights are $ 14 for a Burger & chips as well as a Pint of any Beer! Great Value, awesome taste. Can’t get any better. They really put great quality food into their products!

Get off of Lygon Street and come here. What fun! Best burger in Australia – hands down! Reasonably priced and great beer menu. Make sure you go through the front and down the stairs to the lower level. Wait staff very helpful and friendly.

Oh Markov. Thanks for being darkly lit with an amazing range of vinos and tapas on offer. Perfect place to bond after Cinema Nova.

Marky Markov Place. Escaping the usual clustering of touristy Lygon Street eateries, Markov is placed on Drummond St – just one street over, behind the Cinema Nova complex.
Markov is a diverse place. Sit outside in the sun on wide Drummond street, then walk inside and find a small clutter of broody room that makes up the front bar. Walk through to the back and you’ll find the high-​roofed restaurant and back bar.
Markov doesn’t quite slot into the gastro-​pub stereotype. Firstly it doesn’t have a distinctly pub feel. This feels much more like a bar, particularly the front room. And whilst the menu is great, it’s reasonably limited. However, the food is pretty good, so you’re unlikely to be disappointed.
On the last visit I tried the Chicken Schnitzel, which was plump and juicy with a golden, crisp crust. The burger and pork belly are also great. And while I wouldn’t say it’s reasonably priced, it’s not bad for the quality. The portions are quite generous. If you’re not got a big appetite you can easily share a meal between two.
The other standout for Markov is the selection of beers. The front bar tends to be a bit more limited, with only a couple on tap. However, in the back bar you’ll find a dozen of beers on tap, with local beers well represented — in fact last time I was there 9 – 10 of the dozen were local.
If you want a drink, a decent pub-​ish meal and a beer, there is no better option in the neighbourhood. Great place to grab something before your Nova screening.

For those who don’t know, cause it can be a little difficult to get, Markov Place and Lt. Markov are actually the same place. The names just refer to the different areas. Now Lt. Markov is the little place which took over the bottle shop that was previously there. It focuses on drinks, while still offers little snack items. Markov Place on the other hand offers a more hearty, and expensive menu. Confusing, huh?
Then menu changes often so it’s hard to recommend something. But a little tip is to look out for the seafood board (that’s what the dish is called) it offers a range of seafood items and is about $ 30. If you share this with another it’s only $ 15 a head which comes out cheap than ordering two tapas dishes. Clever.

Markov is a wonderful two-​tier place situated on a corner on Drummond Street. Each to the two spaces ca suit your night habits. For those after a good drink and chit chatty night, Little Markov is a bar to one side. This cute space has wonderful white walls with coloured decals of trees and cages, and these lines play well against the furniture and the bar. The bar is fully stocked, with more select local beers — White Rabbit on tap is a winner — and the prices aren’t the most extravagant (drink more!)
For those after a feed you should be finding yourself in the restaurant side of the establishment. Fine tapas ding at its absolute best, the Spanish influence in the spices and arrangements. And for those in the know, here you will find the best oysters you will ever eat. Ever! Well I like them anyway.
The two spaces are perfect to travel from one to the other. If you want a brew to wait for your dinner guests, it may as well be a good one.

My housemate and i come here for drinks whilst we wait for our washing and drying to finish at the local laundrette weekly.
We sit in the front room and sip back their generous collection of red’s and talk about the weeks high’s and low’s. The venue doesn’t look like much from the front but once you enter you will be delightfully surprised by the splendid interior and decorum.
The front room is dimly lit and has a very romantic vibe, the black couches and antler-​esque design of the ceiling lights creates a real art form within the venue.
Markov can fill up pretty quick but i have never had an issue with service. The wines are reasonably priced and will please the palette.

I’ve been to Markov Place on a couple of occasions now. Located across the road from Lygon Food Court and facing Pugg Mahones, it looks rather innocuous from the outside but once you go in you’ll soon see it is quite a plush establishment.
The front bar is very relaxed and a good place to grab drinks but I would say that it is the back bar (through the little outside bit and down the stairs) where the action is at.
They have a decent sized menu of mainly Tapas style food of course meant for sharing. The menu looks really appetizing and their pricing is fairly upscale. The food itself was really good but did not leave me with that typical feeling of «I want to do this all over again tomorrow».
Nevertheless, the excellent service, cracking environment and good experience will mean I’ll be back soonish. It just didn’t leave me clucking for more.

Or: the bar you go to after seeing a movie at Nova. But Markov is more than just the best location for arguing about a film with your mates. It’s a bar well worth seeking out regardless of its proximity to the cinema.
Walk in the front doors and you’re welcomed into a bar that wouldn’t be out of place in London’s Notting Hill bar district — which is to say, it’s more a house turned into a bar, with a hall leading to smaller rooms to cosy up in. The bar staff are great and will fix you a mad whiskey sour (topped with a cherry) or a simple glass of wine or a pint. The prices are reasonable.
Keep walking through the hall and you come to an outside landing (where you can smoke) which then leads to a staircase. Head down those and you’ll find a wonderfully dim-​lit, indoor-​outdoor second bar — a cool place to drink late into the night. Bar food can be ordered and the room is large enough to take bigger groups and to soak up a fair bit of noise.
A surprising all-​rounder.

My first visit to Markov was for a degustation with a group of friends. If a restaurant offers a degustation, my expectations are immediately sky high. It’s generally a sign they are committed to feeding you course after course of goodness until your pants are tight and you’re so drunk you don’t notice how big the bill is.
Markov, however, delivered a different experience. I didn’t end up «if I move I’ll vomit» full, which was a surprising relief. The food wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but the wine list was good.
After our meal we moved into the front bar for a night cap. While the back restaurant was stylishly fit out and comfortable, the front bar felt quite cold. The two rooms of the bar are both odd spaces — the first is dominated so much by the bar itself it’s not really comfortable to sit or stand around it, while the second is Spartan with seats around the edge but nowhere you can sit and face the people you’re with. I’ve been back to the bar a couple of times since, and always found it an odd space not conducive of lingering on drinks for long. Now that Carlton Wine Room has opened across the street I don’t think I’ll be using Markov as my night-​cap venue anymore.

Located in Carlton behind Lygon Court, Markov Place is one of the few places I like to eat near Lygon Street. From the outside with its plain white walls and large, but simple MARKOV PL sign, it doesn’t look like much.
You enter the bar and it’s filled with people — tables to your left, bars and stools to your right. Walk through the hallway and down the stairs and once inside, you’re faced with an old converted warehouse with high ceilings, a large bar, tables with booths and chairs, dark brown wooden furnishings, and bright red walls lined with Spanish posters. It is a very simple and elegant use of browns and red — very Spanish in character.
Choose from a set menu ($ 42 per person) or from their a la carte ($ 3.50-$ 28). I liked the food — it wasn’t mind blowing, but good. It is a mixture of modern Australian, Spanish, and French dishes such as chicken liver parfait, chicken and pistachio terrine, calamari, and braised beef ribs. We ordered both the tapas board and the seafood board to try a bit of everything — prosciutto, chorizo, oysters, prawns, crab salad, parfait, which were all rich in flavours.
With drinks and food, Markov Place turned out to be a bit too pricey, but with few good options near Lygon Street, I’ll most likely go again.