Review: The Middle Brighton Baths – Brighton (Melbourne)

“We eat with our eyes first”, a famous saying taken to the next level by The Middle Brighton Baths, one of Melbourne’s most scenic fine-dining venues. Situated just above Port Phillip Bay, The Baths’ upstairs restaurant recently underwent a full interior renovation under the creative vision of Wendy Bergman from Eades and Bergman Interiors.

Teaming up with The Baths’ owner and head-chef Paul Raynor, Bergman, who’s renowned for her unique approach to restaurant interiors all across Melbourne, redesigned the prestigious venue to reflect the relaxing atmosphere and colours of the beach.

“We wanted to create something that connected and related back to the beautiful view, because nothing can compete with it,” said Bergman, referring to the captivating view of the waterfront and the Melbourne CBD skyline, framed by the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

Featuring blue toned walls and a Portuguese cork floor, the new interiors of The Baths create a beautiful and soothing ambience that complements the seasonally updated menu, which maintains a strong focus on a variety of locally sourced seafood as well as other dishes across breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

seafood-platter-at-the-baths

The highlight of the menu is Raynor’s signature seafood platter with a collection of fresh fish and crustaceans all cooked, shelled and shucked to order, served alongside a small variety of dips such as the red wine and shallot vinaigrette. Everything on the platter from the kingfish sashimi to the prawns, and the oysters to the clams offered fresh, colourful and slightly salty tastes of the sea, just how good seafood should be.

If seafood is not your thing, The Baths’ menu also includes dishes such as the twice cooked pork belly with caramelized apple and ginger purée, and calvados jus or the chicken coq au vin with lardons, button onions, mushrooms, and soft polenta. Raynor’s years of experience working at renowned culinary establishments such as the Stokehouse and the Michelin starred Le Gavroche, have given him a sharp attention to detail, channeled into dishes like the aforementioned.

After mains, guests can also enjoy a selection of local and internationally imported cheeses including the Swiss Gruyere and Tasmanian Blue Cheese, or choose from one of the sweet dishes like the Pear Tarte Tatin with housemate cinnamon ice-cream.

The Middle Brighton Baths 

Address: 251 Esplanade, Brighton, VIC
Contact: (03) 9539 7000
Website: www.middlebrightonbaths.com.au
Hours: Breakfast from 7:30am – 12pm on Saturday-Sunday, Lunch from 12pm-4pm on Tuesday – Sunday, and Dinner from 6pm-late on Tuesday-Sunday

Images supplied

———-

This content has recently been ported from its original home on The AU Review: Food & Lifestyle and may have formatting errors – images may not be showing up, or duplicated, and galleries may not be working. We are slowly fixing these issue. If you spot any major malfunctions making it impossible to read the content, however, please let us know at editor AT theaureview.com.