Match Bar & Grill

249 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. (03) 9654 6522
I’d never heard of this place, but given its proximity to RMIT I feared it was going to be a student hangout and I was going to be mutton dressed as lamb. Then, as I got closer, it looked very ‘chain-like’ and a little too commercial for my liking. But I was wrong on all counts.

This is a cool bar. It’s not the décor, which is cool and laid back, or the massive leather couches that you can sink right into until only your ankles are showing. Or the outside area so you to take advantage of warm balmy Melbourne nights. Or the friendly staff. No.

It’s the giant sized cocktails that arrive in retro, oversized cups, shaped like sports balls. Golf balls. Footballs. We partook in a Champagne Smash, consisting of Wyborowa lemon vodka, muddled with fresh peach, lemon and mint, topped with champagne and given the size, designed for two to share ($30).

When I came to write this review and I got online to look up the URL, it became apparent that this Match is run by the guys that started Match and Sosho in London. So now it all makes sense. The inventive, colourful cocktails. The cocktail menu at the Melbourne branch features drinks devised by London and New York-based mixologists and the wine list is compiled by Matt Skinner.

And the other thing – they have pretty damn good food too! There’s a restaurant menu and a bar menu. We only partook in the bar menu. Baked medjool dates with gorgonzola and prochiutto ($1.50 each), french fries with aioli ($8), prosciutto and gruyere croquetas ($1.50n each) were all fresh and fabulous.

The music wasn’t overbearing, the crowd didn’t make me claustrophobic. A definite win.

Website: www.matchbar.com/galleryMatchMelbourne.php