La Luna Bistro

Not an overly extensive menu, which is of great benefit to someone like me who is incurably indecisive. The rib eye stood out to me immediately, although I knew well in advance I would never be able to eat it all, and did not disappoint in the slightest. Perfect charcoal flavour on the outside, juicy flavourful meat on the inside, although I would say it was cooked more like medium although I asked for rare.
The croquette entrée was also impeccable with great flavour and texture, and the chips on the side (enough for 2 – 3 people) were surprisingly tasty and served in a cute little basket made out of one of their brown paper menus. Sadly after all this we were too full to try dessert but I’m sure that would not have disappointed either. Oh, and a good selection of wines too!

Best steak in Melbourne.
My go-​to steak is a grass-​fed porterhouse. Usually Angus. However, I usually branch out at La Luna, because I can be so confident. The rump in particular was outstanding.
La Luna tends to avoid things like rib-​eye (unless it’s on the bone) or a Waygu Marble Score 12. The latter I heartily agree with. Let’s move past expensive, steak-​flavoured jelly.
At La Luna you’ll get a flavourful steak, aged, nicely marbled, properly cooked and full of texture. La Luna is about the fundamentals, executed well. Pair this up with their sublime mash, some spinach and a meaty Tempranillo and you’re all set.
Not sure about the desserts. They look amazing, but I’m always too full at that stage of the evening. My fellow diners usually have great things to say. The Eaton Mess always seems to be a hit.
La Luna age, smoke and cure their own meats on premises. If you walk through the back to the bathrooms, you’ll walk through a sauna-​like wood-​panelled corridor. This is where all the smoking and aging is going on. You can spy some of the works-​in-​progress as you go.
Tip: If you’re a local, they have a small (communal) kitchen garden on the Lee Street side. The contents rotate based on the season. However, you can usually nab some Rosemary, and often Coriander.

Terrific service, attentive staff. Good menu and food well cooked. Very busy place but did not seem frenetic or noisy. Would go here again.

There was spark and tale of this little joint all over the blogs and web, so it was my friends birthday and I decided I’ll take him here since he liked steak. It was true, it was a small cosy place where we entered and straight away got our seats (it was raining and we got parking pretty far from there). The lady who seemed like she was manager greeted us really friendly and gave us the menu, telling us what’s special, what good on the menu and I had a little chat to her about the types of steak that went for offer.
She said the rump steak was pretty tender and made with pepper sauce that will truly satisfy me so I had no choice but to go for that (I know I’m pretty gullible with advertising sometimes).
For appetizers we had the ‘double baked cheese soufflé, dipping croutons’ and ‘Crispy pig’s head sausage, green chilli salsa’. The waitress we got was a tad unfriendly but we could tell she was trying pretty hard to be patient, maybe she was hungover since it was a Sunday HA.
The cheese soufflé came out and I was in awweee from the first bite, it definitely had a kick to it and produced a wow factor as it was different to what I usually eat. My friends sausages, he liked them but as me being me I had to judge for myself. I took a bite and juice got squeezed out from the bite and it was the perfect blend with the meat, I can see that people weren’t lying about the food in this place, very unique and it tastes wonderful.
But enough of that now time for the important part, the steak! It was a bit of a wait but eventually got to us (my friend ordered well done :/​) As i always do I cut into it and slowly put the peace of seared heaven in my mouth and chewed it slowly, cooked just how i liked it and had something different to it, it was cooked in pepper sauce or something along the lines (The waitress said something), but it was pretty different to the steaks i usually eat. I went through it bite by bite, the succulent juices brought up the good feelings in the central part of my brain, I had forgot about how I parked far away and the rain, and also I didn’t care that the waitress wasn’t friendly, now I know what the hype was about! The bad thing was that even though i was going through the steak pretty fast it seemed to get cold pretty quick and the juices lost that tasted to it, and unfortunately it didn’t have that ‘last piece of steak was depressing’ vibe to it like i usually get at other restaurants.
Overall my friend was pleased with my gift but this restaurant honestly is something special and people it Melbourne should come here if they want something different to their usual plate of food.
And a note, people say that there is a celebrity chef that works there that comes out and talks to the customers, I didn’t see him!
Atmosphere: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Setting: ⁹⁄₁₀
Service: ⁵⁄₁₀
Food: 8.5÷10

The desserts are amazing, I wish I could ignore everything else and just order the all sweets. Don’t get me wrong the mains are good too. Exceptional, in fact. But I usually make room for the dessert tasting plate at the end of the meal. I also often can’t resist a glass of dessert wine too, as a final full stop to the night. It not cheap, but it’s special.

La Luna has been around for yonks and I mean YONKS. We’re talking over a decade here people, so they must be doing something right, yeah? Yes they are.
Chef Adrian Richardson, connoisseur of meat and regular on Ready, Steady, Cook (my secret shame) is the owner of La Luna and has been keeping it popular all these years. In fact, it was his regular appearances on my guilty pleasure that first made me want to check out this Rathdowne street restaurant.
The food is what one would call «Modern Meditteranean» — lots of in-​house cured meats, crackling roast pork and their famous steaks which are dry-​aged for 8 weeks, grass-​fed beef — the absolute cream of the crop in steak.
If you’re a vegetarian, I suggest you head elsewhere because the menu is very ‘meat-​heavy’. But if you’re like me and appreciate a good steak and plenty of protein — oh and good service, a gorgeous wine list and a romantic and intimate venue — then La Luna is for you.