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MELBOURNE | Cheek is a meat focused restaurant in Melbourne’s CBD from the people behind Preston’s Dexter, and sees them take that template and turn everything up a notch. Housed above Jack London on Swanston Street, Cheek is a restaurant that exemplifies “now” in Melbourne’s dining scene. The interior, which you enter after walking up a glowing pink staircase, is long and narrow, with whitewashed bricks, tones of grey, blue, black and white, and concrete floors. Separating the kitchen from the dining space is shiny custom-built meat ageing cabinet, showing off the restaurant’s bounty. It’s minimal, cool, and casual.
The restaurant’s website describes Cheek’s food as “meat, but not as you know it”, and takes the non-traditional philosophy of Dexter to new places. The cuisine can best be described as international, with Asian leanings. As with most menus these days, dishes are designed to be shared.
French influenced duck liver profiteroles are filled with foie gras and spiced cherry jam, while empanadas are filled with mapo tofu, pork cheek, and topped with Bulldog sauce for a Latin American / Chinese / Japanese flavour fusion. Both are delicious. The popular bone marrow potato mash and gravy makes its way over from the Dexter menu, and are a creamy, indulgent, must order side. Plum beef tartare with Korean pickle and fresh cos lettuce is also fantastic. A special when we visited, XO pipies with Chinese doughnuts, is also fantastic and well worth ordering if available.
For drinks its around 35 bottles of wine, which you can see aligned with their funky labels along the wall. All the main styles are available, with a particular focus on organic and minimal intervention wines. Think wine makers like Jamsheed, Patrick Sullivan, and Travis Tausend. Beers are mostly craft and local, and there’s a small selection of spirits and house cocktails. Try the unique and interesting ‘Duck n Pinot’, a combination of duck fat whiskey, pinot noir, beetroot, and citrus.
Ambient electronic music makes Cheek a place that’s conducive to conversations. Service is attentive and bubbly. Above Cheek you’ll find the team’s new small bar, Peaches, and above this their rooftop bar. All they need now is a basement bar.
Cheek
L1, 301 Swanston Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9994 8582
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Tue – Sat: 5:00pm to 12:00am