Jacques Reymond Ph: 9525 2178 ; 78 Williams Rd, PRAHRAN 3181 www.jacquesreymond.com.au Modern Australian, $$ - Open Lunch Thu-Fri noon-1.30pm dinner Tue-Sat 6.30pm-9.30pm, Closed Most public holidays; Licensed; AE DC MC V Chef Jacques Reymond (21-9-11) Owner Jacques & Kathy Reymond (11-10-10)

Photo Tony Knox

Mietta's Review
This is big night out dining and priced to match. The establishment is imposing, the setting fine, the service excellent and the wine list comprehensive. The cooking itself is of the highest standard. However, a number of the combinations of ingredients and flavours in the dishes seem more experimental than successful and it remains a moot point as to how 'experimental' a restaurant of this type can be. Full marks, though, for presenting a series of dishes for vegetarian tastes.

Other published opinions

Gourmet Traveller 2012 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: Two Stars "It's nearly two decades since Jacques Reymond moved his restaurant into this imposing Victorian mansion on Williams Road, but weariness or complacency have made no inroads. Hushed rooms with statement light fittings and splashes of colour are ageing well, daughter Nathalie Reymond kicks goals with her deftly directed wine list and the service is seamlessly impressive"

Age Good Food Guide 2012 Score: 18.5/20, 3 Hats

Age Good Food Guide 2011 Score: 18.5/20, Three Hats

Gourmet Traveller 2011 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "The gougeres are so light, they're almost more like the very idea of gougeres wrapped around air rather than things of substance. These canapes, and bread and water, are on the table almost the moment you sit down, with no mucking about or questions about still or sparkling"

Age Good Food Guide 2010 Score: 18.5/20, Three Hats "18.5/20

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2010

Gourmet Traveller 2010 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "Jacques Reymond is occasion dining with little of the genre's usual stuffiness. Exacting but affable service led by Chris Young helps, as does the modern, clean-lined fit-out of the grand mansion that mixes splashes of bold colour and open fireplaces"

Herald Sun Stephen Downes, 29-09-09 Score: 42/50 "MOST surprising here is the huge choice and unexpected complexity of the dishes. (Judging by the amount of work that goes into-them you might expect fewer to be offered.) Each is of only entree size and averages out at about $33 a serving. An eight-course vegetarian menu ($130) of wild promise ("asparagus and salsify with four peppers, fennel and white balsamic, sencha and lime emulsion", for example) precedes 10 savoury offerings and, finally, an eight-course tasting menu ($165 without wine, $255 with)"

Herald Sun 17-10-09 "Jacques Reymond is Melbourne's best restaurant, even if its costs put it out of reach of most of us"

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 18/20, Three Hats "18/20 10

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "Large kitchen brigades performing intricate duties to produce inspired dishes that are ferried to an opulent dining room by a small army of super-discreet waiters... Such restaurants are an increasingly endangered species"

Herald Sun 8-06-08 "Victorian grandeur, faultless service and a panAsian take on classical French cuisine sets the scene for any special occasion"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 18/20

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "While restaurateurs everywhere trim costs, there's something admirable about an ownerchef who adheres to the tenets of formal dining (Christofle cutlery, Villeroy & Boch crockery, crumb-sweeping between courses) without allowing his cooking to suffer"

Herald Sun Eat, Bob Hart, 6-5-06 "EATING at the incomparable I Jacques Reymond's eponymous restaurant is, like choosing to buy a new Bentley, not cheap.Because food this good, this innovative, this labour-intensive will, like the Bentley, never be on special.For just on 15 years. JR has been a shrine at which local foodies worship, and one of the first places culinary pilgrims choose to visit."

Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 17/20

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide * "The term "control freak" could have been coined for Jacques Raymond. And that's meant in a good way. No curly parsley garnishes for this Burgundy-born chef. Instead, he'll compose an elfin salad using newly sprouted herbs."

Age Sunday Life, Australia's 20 best restaurants Mathew Evans 05

Age Good Food Guide 2005

Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide ** "Jacques Reymond is the doyen of Melbourne's restaurateur-chefs, whose "cuisine du temps" still sets a benchmark for creativity based on classic craftsmanship and confident composition oftextures and flavours."

Age,Agenda,20/6/04,John Lethlean

Age, Agenda, 30/5/04,Dani Valent

The Foodies' Guide 2004,Allan Campion & Michele Curtis,'Jacques Reymond is absolutely stunning.With its brightly coloured rooms and modern Australian menu,it will not fail to impress.Try the degustation menu-seven courses,coffee and petit fours.There are also vegetarian options.'

Age Good Food Guide 2004-2 hats,17/20

Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004, 2 Red stars, Excellent wine list, Good vegetarian options,'he keeps his infinitely innovative cuisine moving with the times...menu now includes intriguing East-West flavours...Naturally, the extensive wine list, the polished service, the comfortable seating and immaculate table appointments are all exemplary.'

Age, Epicure, 10/2/04,'10

VE+T, March April 2003,'Recently revamped with rich color.'

Sunday Age, Eat Streets, John Lethlean, 20/10/02

Age, Epicure, Restaurants, John Lethlean, 24/9/02, Score 17/20

The Herald Sun, Weekend, Eat , Bob Hart, 6/7/02. "The food still looks wicked, but the dinner can now feel virtuous."

The Herald Sun, 05.06.01, Stephen Downes review "From the evidence of this visit, Jacques Reymond's offering are, more than ever, leaving behind classically refined and highly worked food. I also think much of the magic of Jacques used to conjour has been lost, even if high skill is always evident. The excellent wine list is expensive, but four wines and four reds come by the glass. Score: 16 out of 20."

Sunday Age, 22.04.01

Age, A2, Food & Wine, 9/8/03, Jane Faulkner