Rockpool

This place has been around for a long time now. It's situated right next to the Yarra River inside the Crown complex. Headed up by Neil Perry, known to be one of the best chefs in Australia.

 I have been here quite a few times over the years and I always get the same entree. I love their Waygu Bolognese. The fresh al dente pasta with the rich tomato waygu sauce. I've always found it really surprising how well this dish is done here but a few doors down at Rosetta (which is also a Neil Perry restaurant, but just Italian themed) does it so poorly. This sauce is a very meat heavy sauce but you still don't get that 'overloaded' feeling. In my book, it's a must try.

If you come to Rockpool, you have to have a steak..... unless you try their steaks, you haven't dined at Rockpool before. Served with horseraddish and beanrise sauce on the side and your choice of musturd and barbeque sauce. It is recommended you try the natural flavours of the beef first and it is always a beautiful cut of meat. If you order medium, it is perfectly pink in the centre but cooked on the outside. It is definitely the best steak in Melbourne!

We also got the waygu oyster blade braised with red wine and served with potato puree. The meat on this was so soft it melted in your mouth. The red wine sauce was rich and intense, then together with the fluffiness of the potato. It was quite an amazing dish. It was massive though, I wasn't able to finish it and was very sad I had to leave that waygu on the plate.

Now for the sides, this is actually my favourite part after the waygu bolognese. We got the Mac and Cheese and as the name suggest, it's macaroni and cheese served with speck. This was a very dry mac which made it perfect as a side. It still had enough cheesiness and sauce which is what I love about this dish.
Rockpool is pretty famous for their potato gratin, we get it everytime we come... and we always regret it. It's not that it's a bad dish but it's very heavy. The scalloped potato slices with the cabbage is beautiful immersed in a strong cheesy flavour but along with the heaviness in the mains, it's always a big struggle to finish.
Lastly there was the green beans with creamy anchovy dressing and almonds. This sounds rather boring but with all the heaviness in the other dishes, I really appreciated the light and crisp aspect of this dish. The anchovy dressing wasn't over powering but just right. Only downside was I think they put too much dressing on the beans.

Overall I would give it a 17.5/20. There is really little that I will fault the dishes, I just wish I had a bigger stomach. The service is attentive, it is well deserving of it's reputation.