The Frog Club

Taking over the former Morris Jones site on Chapel Street, The Frog Club is a new late-night restaurant, grill and bar from hospitality veterans James McBride and Marc Gurman. Its arrival has already generated plenty of buzz, but the duo aren’t particularly interested in chasing the shiny-new-venue cycle.

“I think Melbourne is ready for places that are a little less concerned with being new and a little more concerned with being good,” McBride tells Urban List.

“We wanted to build the sort of restaurant that feels like it’s always been there—great food, proper drinks, music, atmosphere and people you want to be around. The Frog Club came from that.”

The old building’s character hasn’t been swept away in the process. Designed by Nathan Ruttner, the venue moves through three connected dining rooms, where heritage architecture meets contemporary art, glossy walls, intricate tiling and plush booths. Start at the high-energy central bar, move upstairs for a more secluded drink or, once summer rolls around, settle into the courtyard.

Heading up the kitchen is Culinary Director Angel Fernandez, formerly of Victor Churchill and Rosetta, where he served as Executive Chef during a six-year stint with the Neil Perry Restaurant Group. The menu lands somewhere between an old-school New York steakhouse and a French brasserie, with a custom charcoal grill at the heart of the kitchen.

That grill handles everything from a Black Opal Wagyu hanger steak to a one-kilogram Chauvel Wagyu côte de boeuf, but it’s worth taking your time with the opening act. Crumpets come topped with mussel escabeche and saffron butter, gougères are filled with Comté cream and Wagyu bresaola, and the signature caviar tart offers a proper introduction to the restaurant’s more indulgent side.

McBride’s pick is the Plateau de Fruits de Mer, which lands at the table piled with shellfish and chilled seafood over ice.

“It’s generous, slightly excessive and made for the middle of the table—which is very Frog Club,” he says.

Dessert is far less formal, with a make-your-own sundae and a rotating lineup of house-made toppings and sauces. Behind the bar, acclaimed bartender Matt Linklater is throwing martinis and mixing signatures including the Frog Hopper, Disco Margarita and Chapel Daisy.

The Frog Club is also one of Melbourne’s few full-service restaurants serving its complete menu until midnight, seven nights a week. You can walk in late for lobster frites, eat dinner alone at the bar or drop by for a martini and see where the evening takes you.

Music plays a starring role once the plates are cleared—or before they arrive—with Resident Music Director Prequel curating DJs across jazz, soul, boogie, disco, funk, African rhythms and Brazilian grooves. The sound runs through a Swiss-made Varia Instruments rotary mixer, making its first appearance in the Southern Hemisphere.

“I want people to feel something the second they walk in,” McBride explains.

“The lights are low, the music is right, the room has energy and you immediately want to stay longer than you planned. Dinner is only half the story here.”

Image credit: The Frog Club | Supplied