Persillade

In a city packed to the brim with cafes and restaurants, it is naturally difficult to find somewhere that stands out from the rest and does something different. Meet Persillade. It’s a café that does breakfast and lunch. It’s a restaurant that does dinner. It’s also a wine bar and shop
Located unassumingly at the foot of an apartment complex in the seldom visited East Melbourne, it’s easily missed. Persillade is split level and divided into two areas; the upper kitchen and bar with communal tables and booth seating and the lower table seating. The dark timber furnishings, white-​tiled bar and kitchen and hanging exposed light bulbs present a modern but homely atmosphere. Open wine racks filled with bottles span the whole length of the interior.
The food menu is quite extravagant with French influences and the quality of the dishes could be described as casual fine dining. Breakfast highlights including ricotta dumplings, saffron pickled eggs and spanner crab. The lunch menu is a condensed version of the dinner menu, so many would treat the breakfast menu as a lunch menu. Dinner options cover nearly every form of meat dish and include squid, veal, lamb, suckling pig and steak. There are of course vegetarian options.
What was originally going to be «just a snack» quickly turned into a whirlwind six course dinner. Dishes included fried polenta with goats cheese and corn, bresaola with pickled vegetables, poached squid with chorizo and piquillo peppers, veal sweetbread with peas and broad beans, venison topside with sweet potato, turnip and dates and chocolate cake with hazelnut mousse and raspberries. The veal sweetbread was the highlight with the flavoursome veal just melting in your mouth.
The menu changes monthly and many of these dishes are no longer available, although this does give a perfect excuse to return.
The wine selection has a focus on quality natural and organic wines. We were lucky enough to try a bottle of 2014 Domaine L’Anglore Terre d’Ombré from the Rhôné Valley, a completely organic wine with no artificial yeasts, enzymes or sulphites used that sells out every year and is hard to acquire.
Persillade sets itself from the masses with its all day dining options and quality wine. Although located away from the major precincts, it is definitely worth the short hike.

I arrived intending to have one, maybe two glasses of wine. Somehow, like a mythological creature, this place enchanted me and I stayed for one more glass, one more tasty bite.
Our group enjoyed the comfortable, woodsy ambiance and knowledgeable staff. It was an engaging conversation about the history, science and politics of wine making. Thus making the wine tasting experience that more enjoyable.
Our culinary experience was equally pleasurable. We sampled the tender sweetbread, flavourful lamb, and crackling/​suckling pig. The steak with roulade and mashed potatoes was just divine. All the ingredients complimented each other. Even the starter oysters were each deserving of their own accolades. Salty, sweet and savoury, the perfect blend of decadence.
I don’t know how to describe dessert. By this time I was lost in emotion. Raspberries atop honeycomb and something cool. It was as pretty and fun as spring.
The wine selection pairs well with the dishes. Staff were friendly and on point, recommending pairings and attentive with the details. It is these details that made the experience memorable, along with the insightful company.
The best thing is that they serve brekky, lunch and dinner. Oh and they are a bottle shop. What don’t they do? I will be back to sample their other menus just as soon as this sweet dream ends.

If I had to vote for some of my favourite things in life coffee, breakfast and wine would surely be in the top 10 things. That’s why I like Persillade. They do all three (though sadly not at the same time) and so I can visit any time of day and know I’ll get something I like.
I especially like the solid selection of wine, available to purchase and take home or drink in house with plates of tasty morsels. It’s a great list divided in to sections that could be interpreted as «familiar», «interesting», «pushes the boundaries» and «blow the budget». The team here are happy to guide you through.
The dinner menu here is sophisticated and really well priced. Interesting ingredients (wallaby anyone?) are played beautifully and feature the best of the season. A three course meal, with a hefty dose of wine will set you back around $ 100 per person. Worth it.

I mostly come here for morning coffees and take-​always. They are always speedy and friendly and sell delicious cakes too.

Staff are lovely, presentation is outstanding, coffee is above average. All in all we will be back for food because the menu looked pretty delish.

This is a pretty little wine bar and bistro, a great spot for a quiet catch up with friends or some solo dining.
I haven’t eaten here yet, instead coming to check the place out for an after work drink with colleagues. The wine list has loads of great options by the glass and bottle. If you’re not drinking, they also serve Padre coffee.
On coffee, they do have a filter option but I got the impression they don’t sell too much of it because they didn’t have any left when I was there and they seemed surprised that I asked.
One tip I would give for Persillade is to come here for a proper meal and take a seat down in the area below. I wouldn’t choose this spot again for a wine bar catch up, simply because at 5pm the open kitchen was prepping a whole bunch of food for dinner service and we left very stinky. My hair and clothes had that kitchen greasy smell to it. The restaurant area was empty but they didn’t want us seated there for drinking (fair enough), so we were stuck with the communal table in the middle which I would avoid in future. Everything else was lovely though so it would be worthy of a brunch, lunch or dinner.
Lovely cosy and relaxed option!

Get lost in a book type place!
It reminds me of Kikki K except in earthly tones and delicious gourmet food instead of stationary. Very inviting place with lovely staff. Best coffee around Wellington Parade, only because there isn’t much around here anyway. Coffee and food is presented so nicely, the plush seats, walls of fine wines and the small kitchen of chefs just makes it so cosy.
Take a break here and get lost amongst the crowd!

A lovely, relaxed environment with really friendly staff. The new reno looks great — you can see that they have really thought about the little things. We tried two of their toasties for lunch and both were delicious. I’m looking forward to trying out their breakfast menu soon.