Launched last week, The Hot List is our guide to the most vital eating and drinking experiences in Melbourne right now. The list is unranked, independent and covers all cuisines, budgets and occasions. As Hot List editor, I’m so excited to help you make easier – and more delicious – choices, so that you can go and get the best out of the city. I’ll make sure the list is up to date, so check in regularly.

This week’s Hot List activity

• Added: Kolkata Cricket Club
• Added: Marmont
• Added: NGV Garden Restaurant
• Most trending venue this week: Marmelo

Today, we’re talking about one of the most divisive places in Melbourne: Crown. Love it or hate it, it’s always been influential. When it opened in the ’90s it neccessitated changing the state’s liquor licensing laws, accidentally kickstarting Melbourne’s small bar and laneway culture. And by the mid-2010s, it had become a genuine culinary destination. This was the era of The Fat Duck pop-up and Meat Fruit mania. Long Chim’s heyday. Rockpool, Rosetta and Spice Temple were still at the peak of their Neil Perry powers. It had the only Nobu on the east coast.

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Point is, for a minute there, Crown genuinely had something going on. But in the last few years, it’s lost its mojo big time. And it would love to get it back. If Kolkata Cricket Club and Marmont are anything to go by, it’s off to a great (re)start. That’s why they’re both joining The Hot List this week.

Another winner from Mischa Tropp

Kolkata Cricket Club is the latest from chef-owner Mischa Tropp. He’s the definition of a 10-year overnight success. After spending ages taking his We Are Kerala pop-ups around Melbourne and Victoria, Tropp at last opened his debut restaurant, Toddy Shop, at the tail-end of last year to instant acclaim. And while that tiny 20-seater is a tribute to home-style Keralan cooking, Kolkata is all about Bengali dishes and pan-Indian favourites.

You can play it a couple of different ways at this 150-seat spot. The front bar is modelled after India’s gymkhanas – social sports clubs from the time of the British Raj. And it’s a real-deal sports bar, so if you can’t make it to the G to watch the Boxing Day Test, it’s hard to think of a better – or tastier – consolation venue than this (just make sure you’re not too vocal if you’re cheering on Australia against India).

Bartenders behind the front bar at Kolkata Cricket Club.
The front bar is more casual and has its own snackier menu. Photo: Chege Mbuthi.

Further inside, it’s a beautiful white tablecloth dining room with share-friendly plates like a marinated lamb tomahawk and classic crowd-pleasers – including what Tropp calls “the best butter chicken you’ve ever eaten”.

Restaurants like Saadi, Biji Dining, Enter Via Laundry and Tropp’s own Toddy Shop are emblematic of the new wave of venues raising (and reshaping) the profile of Indian food in Melbourne. Kolkata is the latest, and it surely won’t be the last.

Grant Smillie returns to Melbourne – with a few LA tricks up his sleeve

If anyone can bring the vibes back to Crown, it’s Grant Smillie. The long-time DJ has dabbled in Southbank before, co-founding Ponyfish Island – the bar under the bridge you’re not allowed to put padlocks on anymore – before moving to Los Angeles and opening a raft of buzzy venues, including Strings of Life and Grandmaster Records.

Smillie’s returned home, but Marmont is proof that you can take the guy out of California, but you can’t take California out of the guy. This glamorous restaurant feels plucked straight out of the glamorous excess of ’80s Hollywood – a time of big hair, big suits and big appetites.

A large 20-metre cartoon mural, depicting a raucous award ceremony, is the centrepiece of Marmont, and it watches over the restaurant as it progresses from day into night. Settle into one of the lipstick red booths, order a few plates from the seafood-forward menu, get stuck into a couple of cocktails, and you’ll be in for a great time.

The dining room at Marmont.
Wherever you are in Marmont, you'll likely see at least some of the 20-metre mural. Photo: Chege Mbuthi.

It’s not quite Jim Morrison living in the Chateau Marmont levels of cool – but Marmont packs an excellent vibe. When Broadsheet visited last weekend, Crown was absolutely heaving. Looks like its bet could pay off. Maybe the house does always win.

Martin Benn takes over the NGV – for a limited time

Martin Benn is one of Australia’s most feted chefs, best known for running Sydney’s Sepia, an avant garde Japanese restaurant, with his partner Vicki Wild from 2009–2017.

Currently between permanent projects, the chef is in the kitchen at the NGV Garden Restaurant from now until February 16, 2025, with a menu inspired by the blockbuster Yayoi Kusuma exhibition in the main gallery. What a perfect match.

It’s open daily from 11.30am–4pm, with an a la carte menu and two- and three-course set options priced at $84 and $96. But if you realluy want to experience the full force of Benn’s cooking, secure a Friday night booking, for a five-course dinner ($165), which includes a ticket to the exhibition. Tables will be tough to secure, so book now.