The Merrywell (Downstairs)

Last Wednesday my friends and I went to Crown Casino for lunch. We originally intended to drop by Margo's however the 20 minutes wait was too long for us to handle so we visited The Merrywell instead.

The Entrance to The Merrywell

The interior of The Merrywell is quite spacious with a casual vibe. The space can be divided into two sections, the left and the right with the entrance in the centre. Unlike most restaurants at Crown, at The Merrywell you simple walk in and choose your own table at will. No waiter to show you to your table, no nothing. Once you're ready you walk to the counter to place your order. One thing I like about The Merrywell is use of natural light. Because the restaurant is located at the corner there are plenty of natural light and The Merrywell did a splendid job at harvesting this natural light source by placing large windows all the way around.

The Front Counter

The Right Side of The Merrywell

The Left Side of The Merrywell

The Bar Locate On The Left Side

I must say The Merrywell's menu is adorable. At first my friends and I didn't recognise the menu even after picking it up. It is understandable since the menu was slightly larger than A6 in size in a folded card format. 

The Front of the Card Menu

Currently Crown is having a lunch promotion with selected mains for $9.95 and you can add entrée or dessert for additional $5.00 each. The are six restaurants participating in the promotion and The Merrywell is one of them. If you want to know more about the promotion, click here. The promotion is on going for the next five or so months.

The Promo Menu

My friends and I took advantage of the promotion and ordered a number of dishes from the menu. All together we ordered:

2 x Caesar Salad
3 x Grilled Fish Sandwich
1 x Classic K.I.S.S. Burger
3 x Mango Mousse

We have a lot of food on our table

The caesar salad consist of crispy bacon strips, boiled egg, brioche, anchovy and parmesan with sliced lettuce and two small bowls of the same dips. I personally don't like anchovy and have it removed as soon as it arrived. There's nothing much to say about the salad because it's bowl of plain salad. Having said that there is one thing I like to point out. There's a lot of lettuce spine (I'm talking about the think central part of a lettuce leaf) included with the salad. Personally I wish there was less spine and more leaves. I don't know for sure as to what type of dips was included with the salad however it taste a lot like hummus.

Caesar Salad

Tina had the K.I.S.S. Burger but I don't have much information to write about. One comment from Tina is "not bad for what it is but the bread needs to be bigger".  One thing is for sure Tina enjoyed her burger.

Classic K.I.S.S. Burger

The rest of us ordered the Grilled Fish Sandwich and to be honest everyone enjoyed it very much. The sandwich consist of a generous piece of grilled fish with remoulade, lettuce and tomato. The fish was sweet, juicy, tender and beautifully grilled. The only down side to the sandwich was the seasoning. The fish definitely need more seasoning. A bit of extra salt and pepper would be wonderful because at that moment the fish taste a little bland; other than the natural sweet taste from the fish.

Grilled Fish Sandwich

When I first laid eyes on the Mango Mousse I felt a little regretful ordering it. Half a cup of mango mousse for $5? I'm not sure if it's worth my money. At that point in time I was really hoping that it would be delicious, and I was disappointed. The mango mousse taste similar to my first attempt mango pudding. (My pudding didn't work out so well) The texture wasn't smooth at all, rather it was a little crumbly. Definitely not worth the money spent.

Mango Mousse

3 Course Meal for $19.95

Overall, we had a delicious and filling lunch and to be there with 3 wonderful friends only made the experience even better. If you're visiting The Merrywell in the near future then give the grilled fish burger a try and best if you skip the mango mousse

The Merrywell

Corner of Clarendon St & Crown Riverwalk,

Crown Casino Complex, Melbourne

Visit their website here or The Merrywell at Crown's website here.