The Waiting Room

Got to love their loose leaf Teas collection; Jasmine in particular.
Soy Latte was good too, crowded with Spring Racing Carnival goers …
Great place to watch the A-​lister if you are into it.

i thought this place was just a cocktail lounge at first. there’s not a lot of seating and is half open to the lobby of crown towers. the service is really friendly and attentive, it almost too much for me when i wasn’t feeling 100% and just wanted a cocktail and some food.
i ordered the piña colada nueva, with house made pineapple soda. it was sweet and tasty and strong. my kind of cocktail. the husband ordered a red snapper and the waitress warned it would take a while, so he ordered a beer as well. convenient.
we split the classic cheeseburger and the hand cut fries. the advised the burger would be medium rare and we both nodded happily. the burger didn’t really have any pink in it — not that i minded, because i prefer my burger to be cooked a little more. i have noticed there seems to be a vast difference between medium rare in australia to the US. true medium rare seems to be served in the US for burgers. yes, this is absolutely fascinating. the point is, i knew when the waitress said medium rare, it wouldn’t be medium rare, it was would be much closer to medium, almost well done. the burger was quite good, the bun soft. i even ate the pickles!
the hand cut fries with the house made tomato sauce were also quite good. thick, crunchy and hot. the tomato sauce was a bit of a shock as i was fully expecting the sugary bottled kind, but it was spicy and sweet, with a nice kick to it.

My dream of being able to spend 24 hours at The Waiting Room has got one step closer. A few weeks ago, TWR started serving breakfasts — from 0800 till 1200, you can find out what Neil Perry and his amazing colleagues feel you SHOULD be having for brekkie.
And boy, do they get it right.
My wife and I tend to eat out for breakfast on the weekends — we love Gordon’s Café, but they’re closed on Sundays and public holidays, so we try various other random places in the CBD when it comes to the last day of the weekend and breakfast.
This morning we tried TWR for the first time and it was a RESOUNDING hit. Sure, the staff was surprised to see us early (and leave sober) but never mind that. The food is as you’d expect: Creative, delicious, and Just Right.
The Orange & Pineapple juice was delicious, and the cappuccinos were so good I had three (buzzzzzz).
We shared a fruit salad, which had watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and a hint of mint and I believe lemongrass added. It comes with some fresh yoghurt and honey, which you can either pour over the fruit, or, dip the fruit in (we went with the latter, and recommend that to others).
The blueberry muffin we shared was perhaps one of the best I’ve ever had. PACKED with fresh berries, with a crumbly top and a hint of walnut. Trust me, you’ll wish they made these in bowling-​ball sized versions…
For breakfast I went with the house made chorizo, on sourdough, with a little bit of scrambled egg added. My wife went for boiled eggs and the same house made chorizo.
We probably over did it for quantity, but as this was our first breakfast with TWR, we weren’t sure about the portions. Now we know, but we have no regrets for the food coma we’ve been in since mid-​day.
Prices are quite competitive with what you’d normally pay in the city for breakfast, about $ 10-​$ 15 for the sourdough+topping option, but the fresh juices will set you back about $ 7 (gulp).
Oh, and yes, they will do cocktails too. Next week, mimosa anyone?

There’s cocktails. Good ones. There’s also classic hot dogs and delicious tacos. Given that the culinary god Neil Perry is behind The Waiting Room, you really wouldn’t expect anything else. Yet it’s easy to be surprised when you come here — a fancy pants venue which is essentially a bar in a hotel lobby.
I like it for a late night rendezvous or even a business meeting. It’s often not busy and hooray, you can actually hear your date speak!

The MoMo and CoCo review describes this venue best. So I’ll be brief.
The food was fantastic. Part Mexican, Part American, very Neil Perry. After making me realise how fantastic a burger could be at Rockpool he has blown me away with a Hot Dog. Who would have though a hot dog could «blow you away». Top Ho!
The service was fantastic. Our waiter helped us match cocktails with food, and food with hunger. The staff were attentive.
The cocktails — Bang On.
Five stars for a perfect combination of food, price, service and atmosphere.
If you want to take a break from the hipster Melbourne, and enjoy the sophisticated Melbourne, then this is the place.

Opposite a swanky colonnaded lobby where guests often drive up in Rolls Royce, deposit luggage emblazoned with designer signage and strut across a marbled floor to drop the cash in the glitzy gambling, shopping or restaurant precinct of Crown Casino, the Waiting Room is a world away from Melbourne’s brooding laneway bar culture. Its frontage is somewhat unassuming — a scattering of low lounge chairs and a series of high perches. Beyond this front area, wave goodbye to conservatism and hipster grunge. It’s a veritable jewel box of a bygone era, with all the accoutrement of LA bling-​bling, overlaid with the more refined air of New York glam. A dazzling wall of tessellated glass cascades over a bar that conjures some very fine cocktails inspired by the grand hotels of US, Europe and old Asia. The drinks are complemented by an equally excellent and extensive food menu canvassing a Spanish-​influenced tapas brief, as well as heavier fare (see suggestions below). Since its opening in late 2010, the Waiting Room has been a steadfast nightspot favourite of MoMo & Coco. And just one year after its opening, the Waiting Room now offers a spectacular daily afternoon tea.
…In a dining landscape flooded with mass-​produced, carelessly-​executed, exorbitantly-​priced cubic zirconias of afternoon teas, the Waiting Room’s interpretation is a sparkling diamond. Indeed, it’s a well-​packaged, well-​priced jewellery box of an experience — a glamorous yet intimate venue, complemented by staff who are of a consistently, very polished service standard, and who deliver a gem of an afternoon tea, the highlights being a carefully-​considered tea menu and some very exquisite sweet irresistibles. Overlooking a few early-​day black-​spotted inclusions in the facets (being admittedly, mostly personal pedantries of ours), the Waiting Room’s afternoon tea is comparable to those offered at fine establishments in London. Forgoing the proverbial «patience is a virtue,» damn patience and damn virtue. Shimmy into that dress, slide on those heels, drape those necklaces, bypass all those run-​of-​the-​mill, timed-​seating, chronically-​claustrophobic afternoon teas at other Melbourne establishments. In most elegant style, impatiently hurry to the Waiting Room. It’s arguably, the afternoon tea that Melbourne has been waiting for

This is a stylin bar with A-​mazing cocktails! The waiting room is sophisticated, and has the feel of a lounge that you really wouldnt mind waiting for anything in. Its perfect for meeting for pre dinner drinks, or after dinner cocktails with friends, or on a date.
The cocktails are mainly complicated works of art, so dont expect speedy service. It takes time to create that kind of art! Take your time looking through the cocktail list, they have some pretty awesome options on there.
Then there is the food menu. Its what I can best describe as random, with taco’s, Asian style burgers, pot pie’s and hot dogs. Honestly I dont get it, but hey, it tastes good so why not?

Neil Perry has delivered his magic again with a top class establishment bar in the Crown Towers hotel complex. There really is no pun intended in this name.
You would be forgiven for thinking that you are hanging out at a first class airline lounge or similar about to head out on an overseas holiday; well it feels that way anyway. The best time to hang out here is on a Sunday afternoon with a cocktail and a hot dog in tow.
It is so easy to feel sorry for the staff, it looks like they are struggling as you watch them prepare your cocktail with effort, style and finesse, and voila the finished product is finally delivered. You sip it as slowly as you can so you can relish this sleek environment for as long as possible. You just feel so grown up.
And unlike any first class experience, that grown up feeling can easily be diluted and cancelled out by feeling like a kid all over again; especially as soon as my hot dog arrived. You have to experience this for yourself to really believe this. At only $ 7 a pop it is so worth it as your probably also paying some kind of levy for the environment your enjoying it in. Back to kindergarten; bread, frankfurt and cheese: never knew you could make such simple ingredients so classy. Well Neil Perry can.