Jimmy's Bar Daylesford - restaurant review

Melbourne = food!  You can't really argue with that.  I felt the buzz when we were down there last week.  The food vibe sizzles everywhere you go.  So yes we tried our best to sample as many places as we could!  Driving back from Bendigo where we had visited the rightly famous Regional Art Gallery, we stopped in at Daylesford, a cute country town with some lovely old buildings (gotta make Mr Pickings the building designer happy).  We were in desperate need of lunch, so dove into the cool depths of Jimmy's Bar. We were most miffed by the heatwave down there, as we had been hoping to escape the endless summer we have been enduring here in Brisbane.  Jimmy's looked cool and shady, so was just the ticket for a long lunch.  We chose to sit in the leafy back courtyard under the grape vines, where the sunlight filtered through in a most charming fashion.  While we sat there, lots of people kept coming in via a secret door with suitcases, clearly here for an early start to their weekend in one of the 12 hotel rooms above.
We started with a drink - sparkling wine for me, Chinotto for Mr Pickings.

lovely cool leafy courtyard

Yarra Valley sparkling - yum! - $10.50  

chinotto for Mr Pickings - $5 

even the water is lush and special:)  - $6

I chose 2 entrees, while Mr Pickings had risotto.  I am always wary of risotto in restaurants, as it never seems to be quite right.  Mr Pickings however enjoyed this dish, which had asparagus, baby radish, goat's cheese, broccolini and pea puree. He said the texture of the rice was a bit chewy, which was perfect for him.  The goat's cheese really picked it up he felt; Mr Pickings loved the green colour too!

risotto - $23 

My lunch was chicken liver parfait, and the other dish I chose was quail sausage.  The parfait was absolutely smooth, with quite a strong liver taste.  To be honest, I have to say I prefer a chunky chicken liver pate to a parfait.  I think it was superbly done, but just not to my taste.  And I don't think the pickled veggies added much to the dish.  On the other hand, I really loved the quail dish.  The sausage was really tasty, and the 2 tiny legs were very moreish.

chicken liver parfait with picked veggies and sourdough - $12 

quail sausage - $18  

Other mains were rabbit pasta, pulled pork salad (frankly, not being a pork eater, I will be happy when this craze dies away), sirloin steak and roasted lamb shoulder.  Desserts were on offer, but we were ready to move on, as we had to get to our hotel in St Kilda, which would take us a while through peak hour traffic in Melbourne.  Desserts included a lavender brulee (there is a lavender farm not far away), doughnuts, ice honey parfait, and malt ice-cream.

I loved the red stools inside 

look at this fabulous door handle!

my arty shot looking up the street; Jimmy's on the right

I am so in love with these stools   

now what's with the chucking of cutlery into a small wire basket?  and worst of all, no napkins!!

We have noticed it everywhere, here in Brisbane also.  I guess you could call it a funky approach to service, but I want my cutlery by my plate and damn! I demand napkins with my cutlery.
We enjoyed our lunch here, and if I lived anywhere near it, I would love to try dinner, or just drinks at the bar.  And what about those hotel rooms upstairs?!  We will definitely have to come back again.
Jimmy's Bar is part of Frangos & Frangos, which has the afore-mentioned hotel, and a cafe.