Crown Melbourne is pleased to re-launch its premium buffet restaurant, Conservatory. Located on level one of Crown Towers, the luxurious restaurant is at once welcoming, inviting and features expansive views of Melbourne’s Yarra River.

It’s a view that is matched only by Conservatory’s extraordinary offering that showcases the best locally sourced produce, an abundance of fresh seafood including sushi and sashimi, dim sum, noodles, pastas, mouth-watering roasts and traditional Indian dishes made in the open kitchen’s tandoor oven.

Lead by Conservatory’s Chef de Cuisine, Joanne Bainbridge, the restaurant’s chefs work from an open kitchen that enables interaction between chefs and guests.  Guests can watch chefs cook, see their choice of piping hot naan made right before their eyes or order a roast just the way they like it. Seafood lovers will rejoice at the number of oysters on offer, cheese buffs are catered for too, while salad aficionados will marvel at one of the city’s most impressive salad bars.

The dessert station is arguably Melbourne’s best. It’s brimming with freshly baked cakes, molten chocolate fountains, mousses, mini trifles, miniature tarts, petit fours, chocolates, sweets, candies, ice cream and even a frozen teppan that’s used to mix ice cream with an assortment of chocolates, sweets and fruit to create a made-to-order frozen treat for children and adults alike.

Conservatory’s dedicated pastry chefs are on hand to prepare servings of frozen teppan ice cream, slice cakes and thread fruit skewers to order.

Why open kitchen-style dining? For buffet devotees, diners cite many reasons for opting to dine this way. Explanations vary from seeing what there is to eat, knowing how much a meal costs in advance, setting  the pace of either a leisurely or quick meal, being able to try dozens of dishes over the course of a meal and even being able to have second servings of favourite dishes.

“Conservatory is truly innovative and new. It’s unlike anywhere else in Melbourne. Crown has made a multi-million dollar investment to ensure that Conservatory is absolutely the best it can be, from the custom-made theatre-style kitchen to a commitment to use only the best possible ingredients,” said  Crown Melbourne’s Executive General Manager, Food & Beverage, Nicolas Kurban.
“We have a dozen chefs working during each meal service. What’s more is that new dishes are constantly being placed on the buffet throughout each meal. This not only keeps things interesting for our guests, it keeps it exciting for our chefs too,” adds Kurban.

Conservatory’s Chef de Cuisine, Joanne Bainbridge has over two decades worth of experience and has developed menus that will appeal to hotel guests, large groups, families, fussy eaters and gourmands alike.

From Monday until Thursday at lunch and dinner and on Sunday nights, Conservatory has a daily dish that is served to guests at their table. Sample dishes include freshly fried beer battered fish, Cuban pulled pork sliders with mango, lime and tequila salsa and salt and pepper school prawns with harissa. It’s just another example of how Conservatory differentiates itself from traditional buffet-dining.

Breakfast
Conservatory’s breakfast menu re-enforces the adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Fresh-out-of-the-oven croissants are served to guests at their table while the buffet is laden with everything from the freshest seasonal fruit, cold meats, cheeses, freshly baked pastries including house-made coconut cherry loaf, daily fruit compotes such as rhubarb with hibiscus, smoothies, French toast, waffles, pancakes and eggs made to order plus soft-boiled eggs with toasted soldiers, Shakshuka eggs and egg cocotte with smoked salmon, caper berries or wild mushroom, thyme and caramelised onion. Traditional Japanese and Chinese dishes are also on offer.

Conservatory’s breakfast is not limited to guests of Crown Towers and is open to the public every day. Breakfast is available 6.30am- 10.30am Monday until Friday and 7.30am until 10.30am on weekends.

Breakfast is $29.50 for Continental and $39.50 for an extensive hot breakfast.

Lunch
Lunch, including a coffee or tea, is $48.00 per person, Monday until Friday and $61.00 per person on Saturdays.

Dinner
Dinner is $74.50 Sunday until Thursday, $98.00 on Friday and $92.00 on Saturdays.
There are two dinner sittings available on Friday and Saturday evenings,  5.30pm – 8pm and 8.30pm until 11pm.

Friday Night Seafood Buffets
Every Friday night, Conservatory features crayfish, chilled Queensland spanner and blue swimmer crab, prawns, Coffin Bay and St Helen’s oysters, Moreton Bay bugs, Hervey Bay scallops, sushi and sashimi.

$98.00 per person includes seafood buffet as well as dim sum, noodles, Indian curries, Western and European dishes and dessert buffet.

Sunday Brunch
Sunday Brunch is a sophisticated occasion celebrated around the world. Every Sunday Conservatory showcases a decadent brunch including antipasto, dishes from the hot grill, salads, cheese and dessert from 11.30am until 3pm for $75.00 per person.

Conservatory also includes an intimate bar and offers Afternoon Tea served in the Conservatory’s lounge area, overlooking Crown’s famous black marble atrium.

Children between the ages of 4 and 11 are able to dine for half of adult prices at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Design
Boasting a breath-taking design by leading Sydney-based architect and interior designer, Blainey North, Conservatory makes guests feel like they have been instantly transported to London, Shanghai or New York during an era when craftsmanship and materials were revered and buildings and interiors were designed to endure and built to last.

There are four distinct areas in which to dine at the 190 seat Conservatory, including a small collection of tables assembled close to the antipasto, seafood, salad and cheese selections, an intimate area near the bar and two larger dining areas.  White marble floors, bespoke chandeliers, a distinctive woven timber ceiling, custom-made carpets, generous chairs and tables, solid, locally made steel screens and dramatic reflective surfaces combine to create a lavish and engaging space in which to dine.

The restaurant is flanked at either end with floor to ceiling mirrors, which teamed with double-height windows overlooking the Yarra River create a natural light-filled and spacious environment.

Conservatory predominantly features a palette of green and stark white. In the open-plan kitchen custom-made spice jars hang on walls and hundreds of red mosaic tiles inspired by Victorian fenestration are used to theatrical effect.

“Conservatory is reminiscent of English conservatories and references Georgian grandeur and Art Deco detailing. By employing traditional craftsmanship techniques, such as the marble panel detailing used on the restaurant’s pillars, we’ve aimed to create a sense of timeless permanence and make guests feel comfortable,” comments interior designer, Blainey North.

“By adopting century-old techniques set in a modern context, such as the use of traditional fluted details on the bar or the restaurant’s solid metal screens, along with the repetitive use of a soft arch formation, it’s a true mix of French-Deco industria and old world decadence. I’m particularly fond of the chairs, they’re largely influenced by luxury sports cars and feature Armani Casa fabric in red, gold or green with white leather perforated with tiny pin dots,” says North.

“It’s the first time we’ve experimented with translating a graphic form and making it into a repetitive architectural detail. The inter-secting arch motif features on everything from the chandeliers to the chairs, tables and wall hangings,” adds North.

Pairing an exquisite setting with an inventive and new approach to traditional buffets, Conservatory is destined to set a new benchmark in buffet-style dining.