One recent Friday night B wanted to go see a gig at Long Play in North Fitzroy, so despite the fact we couldn’t find a menu for their food we decided we’d take our chances and give it a whirl for dinner as well. Long Play is a small wine bar on St George’s Road with an old style cinema out the back, which, as it turns out, doubles as a live music venue as well.
Being a Friday night it was rather busy, but we were lucky enough to snag ourselves the last two stools at the bar, and settled in with a Red Duck beer ($8) to kick off the evening.
The drinks list was fairly extensive, there were quite a few beers and ciders to choose from, but the wine and cocktail choices were obviously the primary focus. The food menu by contrast is relatively short, although given the size of the kitchen that was certainly understandable! There were about 8ish options with a couple of sides and some desserts, as well as some specials to choose from. We discovered that the salad & risotto of the day are always vegetarian, so that means there should always be something new to try which is promising! Unfortunately that day the risotto was a mushroom one which ruled it out for us, ah well!
While we perused the menu we were brought some fresh bread and olive oil which was a nice touch, and we were offered more throughout the evening. (This is where I apologize for the photos – it was verrry dark in there!)
We decided to go with the salad of the day which consisted of brussel sprouts, lentils, walnuts & gorgonzola ($16). Despite still having an aversion to brussel sprouts after spending my childhood having to eat over cooked sprouts whenever we visited my grandparents I really liked this salad. The walnuts provided some nice crunch, the gorgonzola was strong but delicious and even the brussel sprouts tasted nice! There was a good balance of all the ingredient as well, so we were pretty happy campers.
We also went with the salad from the menu – zucchini with feta and rocket and served on chickpea polenta ($16). This was our favourite (although not by much!), the zucchini was lightly grilled, there was plenty of feta and the chickpea polenta was soft and doughy, so balanced out the dish perfectly. There was absolutely nothing left on the plate when we were done with this one!
Last but not least we had a serve of the roast potatoes with aioli ($7) because I can never say no to potatoes! These were really nicely cooked, lots of crunchy bits to the outsides and soft and fluffy inside. The aioli was nice, but could have been a bit more garlicy for my liking, although I do like a lot of garlic!
Overall we had a really nice meal, although it would be nice to have had a few more vegetarian options on the menu to choose from. The plates are small, so it’s not a cheap meal out, but we definitely didn’t leave hungry. The staff are really friendly and I reckon Long Play is the kind of place you’d love to have as your local so you could pop down for a Sunday night wine and settle into one of the booths for an hour or two. We had a lovely time and would not hesitate checking it out again if we find ourselves in the area needing a feed!
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I Spy Plum Pie is Liz, an early 30s kiwi-born, Melbourne raised girl who is passionate about the environment and sustainability, food, exploring and learning new things. Join me on my journey to a happy, sustainable life!