Marmont
Lifestyle
Lifestyle
A borough grounded in suburban serenity, just the name ‘Mont Albert’ conjures imagery of emerald parks, illustrious heritage homes and a community immersed in camaraderie.
Throughout this genteel domain, wide canopied streets funnel out to bountiful shopping villages, namely Mont Albert Village, Surrey Hills Village, Whitehorse Road and Belmore Road.
It is within this four villages that the suburb’s generous scope of lifestyle offerings can be found. Whether you’re in pursuit of a lavish dinner washed down by a glass of fine wine, a day spent traipsing high-end boutiques, a place to scour gourmet groceries, or a civilised luncheon with your nearest and dearest, this and more is within your clutches as a resident of Marmont.
Marmont Lifestyle
Eateries | Shopping | Park
A world of culinary delights at your fingertips
Mont Albert, Mont Albert North and its surrounds well and truly cater to the epicurean’s discerning palette with its diverse range of eateries. Underpinning the selection is an air of refined taste, in menu, wine list and interior design. A plethora of cafés encircle Marmont, ensuring exceptional coffee and delicious brunches are never more than a short stroll from home.
When dinnertime transpires, Mont Albert, Mont Albert North and its surrounds depict a clear penchant for European cuisine, housing homely pizzerias, upmarket Mediterranean wine bars and everything in between. Mont Albert’s neighbours are also awash with options when it comes to wining and dining, with both Surrey Hills and Balwyn providing a generous scope of choice.
The most stylish of retail offerings close to home
Mont Albert, Mont Albert North and its surrounds’ cultivated essence are reflected head to toe on its elegantly dressed residents, and along the racks of its immaculately curated boutiques. Hidden away on Hamilton Street, Enni’s pieces exemplify this sentiment. The upmarket boutique houses premier Australian designer labels, including the likes of Status Anxiety, Verge and Elk. Upon visiting, odds are you’ll always discover a gorgeous item of clothing or a stylish accessory to procure for yourself or to gift to a loved one.
Where homewares, accessories and effortlessly stylish clothes combine, Bonnie Parker couples edgy Hamptons with a tribal chic aesthetic. Coveted Australian labels fill the store, an atmospheric coolness apparent on arrival. With a vast assortment of gifts and knick-knacks to scour through as well, it’s almost too easy to lose hours browsing here.
Days filled with leisure and coloured by greenery
Marmont presents a home enfolded in mature trees, verdant parks and lush reserves, where opportunities to admire nature are never more than a short stroll away. Step out your door, where a walking track meanders through Rostrevor Parade and funnels out to Gawler Chain Playground, a sunny setting for picnics, BBQs and naturally serene moments.
The expansive Mont Albert Reserve is another nearby retreat. Just 850m from home, dogs are free to mingle and play upon the green oval, where several amenities are also housed, including a sporting club, a playground and a running track. Making it easy to factor in exercise, Healthways Recreation Centre is also just down the road, offering pools, a gym, a tennis court and ten-pin bowling.
LOCAL SHOPPING VILLAGE
Bread Street is your local purveyor of baked goods; the racks abounding in artisanal loaves, as well as pastries, muffins, croissants and scones. They even do pizza by the slice, for delicious lunches on the go. Stocking every form of bread imaginable, the highlight is the ‘maxi loaf’, a hearty purchase filled with dried fruits and various seeds.
Whether you’re doing the weekly grocery rounds, or just dashing out for a missing ingredient, the family-run Mont Albert FoodWorks has you covered. Plentiful yet compact, here, you’ll find all the supermarket essentials, as well as fresh produce and some of the finest wines on the market (a little local secret).
Informative service with a smile is what you’ll receive at Mont Albert Fresh Fruit & Veg, where premier produce in all shapes and forms is at your beck and call. With the approachable atmosphere of a local business and the variety of a big name supermarket, the store is a staple for Mont Albert’s errand-running locals.
Tucked away in Mont Albert Village, this eatery offers a humble yet entirely generous dining experience to those who know where to find it. A sun-drenched courtyard invites summer lunch dates adorned by leafy trees, where the menu dishes out eggs, pancakes, burgers and other gourmet goodies.
WHITEHORSE ROAD VILLAGE
Emulating the vibe of city eateries and Brunswick Street cafés, though with a more laidback postcode, Mr Hendricks is Balwyn’s culinary pride and joy. The brainchild of brothers Simon and Ryan Cosentino, here, the atmosphere is a homey one, providing a stark contrast to the menu’s deliciously exotic selection. Their forte? Crispy eggs, which is now a cult favourite.
A little further up the road in Surry Hills, Saint Barry is the domain’s obligatory industrial-chic eatery. A favourite among Melbourne epicureans, a synthesis of Italian and Greek food occupies the menu, with all dishes immaculately presented, and flavour second to none. Step outside to the vibrant courtyard – a tad incongruous this quiet side of town – for weekend soirées amid a very suave setting.
Cherry vanilla slice, cinnamon scrolls, apple pies and shortbreads worth writing home about. These are just some of what is to be found at Hill Top Cakes, an adorable family-run business specialising in German and Swiss sweets. With an assortment of savoury items on offer too, there aren’t many who don’t rave about this little establishment.
Every weekend, brunch connoisseurs flock to Mister and Miss for their fix of baked eggs, smashed avo, homemade granola and artisan coffee. The spacious venue is always filled with locals revelling in the shared experience of demolishing delectable dishes.
If you’re in pursuit of a night immersed in old-world sophistication and heritage architecture, Balwyn’s Art Deco Cinema is more than apt. Oozing 1940’s character, the iconic complex screens art house and commercial release films, the in-cinema bar cordially inviting patrons in for a pre or post show glass of Pinot Noir.
Just a little further down Whitehorse Road, Laurent is a French patisserie, boulangerie and café. Here, mouth-watering pastries, cakes and confectionaries have the ability to transport their consumers away to Paris for ephemeral moments of bliss. Owner Laurent Boillon has an immense respect for the art of baking, a skill he learned in the French Caribbean – a perfect place if there ever was one.
Equal parts green grocer, specialty supermarket and gourmet delicatessen, Signorelli Fresh are adept at keeping local pantries well and truly stocked. From fresh Australian produce and sourdough loaves to pecorino cheese, prosciutto and homemade pasta, Signorelli’s does it – and well.
Widely beloved for its steadfast authenticity, Toowoo Korean BBQ delivers one of the precinct’s most charismatic dining experiences. The DIY nature of the BBQ only enhances the restaurant’s buzzing atmosphere, where patrons can be heard gushing over the food’s impeccable flavour as they cook up an array of expertly marinated meats.
EAST BALWYN VILLAGE
Belmore Flowers isn’t your run of the mill flower store. They’re a team of floral enthusiasts, impassioned by providing people with the certain joy sometimes only flowers can bring. The in-house florist crafts every bouquet with bespoke care, using Australian blooms as well as imports from Japan, Colombia and Holland. An array of gifts and gorgeous hampers can also be acquired at the botanical bazaar.
For grocery shopping with absolute ease and profuse variety, Coles Balwyn East is just up the road from Marmont. Known as one of the area’s best, though never overly busy, the supermarket is one where staff members go out of their way to streamline your shopping experience.
If you’re looking to procure a fine drop for your next dinner party, you’ll uncover the suburb’s most comprehensive selection within this somewhat unassuming gem. The owner is a wine aficionado, instilled with a scope of knowledge to help you select the perfect bottle. Regular tastings (sometimes with decadent cheeses) for members of their Wine Club are also frequent here.
A local favourite, Belmore Meats is family-run business that stands by only purchasing their products from farmers – no wholesalers or big companies. They stock organic, premium cuts of meat as well as specialty delicatessen items and essentials like flower and sugar.
SURREY HILLS VILLAGE
Coles has opened the first of its small-format “local neighbourhood supermarkets” in Melbourne’s Surrey Hills. Dubbed Coles Local, the new store is about half the size of a full supermarket at 1280sq m, and features gourmet local produce, specialty ranges, an in-store chef and barista and a “Foodie Hub”. “Coles Local gives the Surrey Hills community the convenience of a supermarket with the character of a specialty store,” Coles chief executive Steven Cain said in a statement. “The great thing about Coles Local is that it makes life easier for our customers and helps them explore their love of food.
Welcome to a little taste of France in Surrey Hills. Bistro Chez Nous is the dream and creation of long time resident of Surrey Hills, Robyn Jackson.Robyn's love affair with France has seen her study at The Ritz, Paris and for the past 10 years has taken culture- hungry Australians on 'a cooks tour of France' through the local produce markets, cooking schools and restaurants of Paris, Lyon, Alsace and Brittany. Robyn's hugely successful French dinner nights held at Mont Albert's iconic Orient Expresso Cafe have proved to herself and restaurant lovers that her dream of owning her own French bistro was exactly what Surrey Hills needed.
The original Dartnell’s Pharmacy in Surrey Hills was established in the late 1800’s and has passed through two generations of the Dartnell family to finally the current owners Les Bassin and Stan Sacks in November 2007. Old pharmacy containers and bottles, now antiques, are displayed within the original joinery. The old containers were previously displayed in the window and had to be moved after a truck went through the window in the late 1900's.
Dartnells pride themselves on their customer service, quality products and 24 hour turnaround using state of the art equipment, the best ingredients and well-trained staff.
It’s about your first morning coffee, just the way you like it...Come in, grab a table and we’ll take care of the rest...We’re about every bite, crunch, melt-in-your-mouth and make-your-tongue-sing moment....It’s in our Chef prepared dishes made with locally sourced fresh ingredients, our Experienced Barista, our Signature Boutique Brew, and mostly our fantastic and approachable skilled Staff catering for every whim.We’re the best place for catch-ups and meals on the go, for lunches and brunches. We welcome walk-ins and large group bookings. A favourite for meetings and intimate private functions.
The Hills are alive! We are a Pizza and Wine Bar located just a few strides from Surrey Hills Train station, on Union Road.We think that wine should first and foremost be fun, and therefore we look to showcase avant-garde producers who make wine in a fresh and approachable manner - wines that sit perfectly alongside a delicious slice of pizza. We have twenty wines available by the glass, and a three hundred-strong list that sits alongside our rotating pizza and charcuterie menu. Whether you perch yourself in the front of the venue looking up at our wine wall, or by the open fire up the back, we’re sure you’ll have an amazing time enjoying the food and wine that we love to share. We hope we can welcome you to The Hills soon!
It’s about your first morning coffee, just the way you like it. Come in, grab a table and we’ll take care of the rest. We’re about every bite, crunch, melt-in-your-mouth and make-your-tongue-sing moment. It’s in our Chef prepared dishes made with locally sourced fresh ingredients, our Experienced Barista, our Signature Boutique Brew, and mostly our fantastic and approachable skilled Staff catering for every whim. We’re the best place for catch-ups and meals on the go, for lunches and brunches. We welcome walk-ins and large group bookings. A favourite for meetings and intimate private functions.
Located locally, this cellar stocks a wide range of Australian boutique wines, imported wines, spirits, champagnes, ciders and beer. At Vintage Cellars Surrey Hills, we're passionate about the best wines, beers, and spirits. We pride ourselves on offering the best service and an in-depth knowledge, and our team are here to guide you through our fantastic range. We offer one of Australia's largest Wine Clubs, rewarding members as you discover new and exciting wines. You can also shop online and pick up here at your convenience with our easy Click and Collect service.
At Zimt Patisserie, we pride ourselves on creating handmade products from the finest ingredients using traditional techniques. Our European inspired ‘from scratch’ approach to production allows us to deliver unique items, whilst controlling quality to an impeccable standard. In store, we offer a range of traditional Austrian and haute patisserie items, sweet and savoury baked goods.
