wine bank - 45 view street bendigo 3550 5444 4655

it was a bank and now it sells wine. wine bank. crazy, huh? and how many bloody bank/bars use the fucking vault as a cellar? so original. of course, if they didn't use it as a cellar i'd be moaning about why not. they can't win.

but it's not all bad news. while menu is not exactly el cheap eats, the people they employ can't add and seem to have hearing problems. so the chances are you'll get free food after asking for it at volume a number of times. woohoo!

menu is made up of tapas (read microscopic food, lotsa plate space) and, yeah, soup. there may have been cakes but we didn't make that far. i'll give them this, they did have good wines which you'd kind of expect anyway given the name. and a good open wood fire. so maybe we're being a little tough on them. bendigo doesn't exactly have a smorgasbord of good winebars so wine bank rates pretty well among the competition.

there seemed to be some sort of rooming arrangement out the back - i know it sounds dodgy but i'm sure it was all above board or at least billed by the six-hour block.

there's nothing to stop me going back but i'd bring some rations (freeze dried or fresh) if you're feeling hungry. alternatively eat before you go - not la porchettas.