AN ODE TO THE TRAMCAR RESTAURANT
WORDS BY SOFIA CONNELLY
Once a ubiquitous site rolling through the streets of Melbourne city, the infamous Tramcar Restaurant is no longer. You and your unlimited-booze-on-wheels will be missed!
The Colonial Tramcar Restaurant first hit Melbourne’s tram lines in 1983. Over the next thirty-five years it became an icon of the city, a local institution. Rolling through the CBD via South Melbourne and St Kilda, with offerings so bourgeois even Kath and Kim were once spotted coddling multiple courses and sipping bottomless champagne. Like any other well-known restaurant, it seemed safe to assume that it would always be there, creating a joyful union between two of Melbourne’s defining assets—the tram network and the foodie scene.
‘I remember getting delicious soft white rolls with way too many pats of butter, I remember being drunk on champagne.’
Full disclosure: I never took the opportunity to dine in the tramcar restaurant. It had been on my Melbourne to-do list for years but never came to fruition. My city-to- home commute along the 96-tram line meant our paths would occasionally intersect at the Victoria Street end of Carlton Gardens, usually mid-afternoon. When spotted, I would think hey Tramcar Restaurant, internally weighing up the potential for a solid gag with an honest, guaranteed good time. Now, having done my research and heard first- hand accounts from those who wined, dined and rolled, it seems that what could be described at first glance as a ‘tacky tourist attraction’ was so much more.
It was rainy and dark but really cool to be able to watch the lights from the window. I remember getting delicious soft white rolls with way too many pats of butter, I remember being drunk on champagne. It was very classy in an old-school way and I loved the warm wooden interior and watching the staff plate up food from a tiny narrow nook at the end of the carriage. It was kind of like being in a plane. I loved it — Molly Malteser McKew
Last year, in October of 2018, the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant was taken off the tracks. The reasoning was decidedly unsexy—the logistics of a rolling restaurant were caught in the red tape of the bureaucracy of Yarra Trams. The rave reviews, warm reception and impassioned retellings of a ‘Melbourne experience not to be missed’ make it hard to believe that the tramcar restaurant is no longer in operation. Knowing that I’m too late to this party fills me with regret.
My dad took me on the Tramcar Restaurant for my twenty-third birthday. The food was tasty, and the drinks were free flowing, making the food even better. We both ended up day-drunk and an older lady mistook me and my dad for a couple (horrifying). My dad encouraged me to steal the remaining cheese from our cheese platter. He said goodbye and left me drunk at the South Wharf terminal to find my own way home. 10/10 would go again, and I’m sad I may not get the opportunity to. — Elise Sheehan
Aside from the novelty of travelling through the darkened city streets of Melbourne while you eat dinner, there are a few noteworthy details that made the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant so beloved. The bottomless alcohol is often the first and most frequently mentioned—I guess there aren’t that many venues where you can dine and drink yourself under the table for no extra cost. The plentiful servings of ‘modern Australian’ and typical French fare fusion: terrine and parfait for entrée; chicken breast with creamy sauce or beef with beurre maître d’hotel (French-style seasoned butter) for main; a cheese platter or sweet puddings for dessert. The colonial décor—the carriage decorated like the train from Murder on the Orient Express, with waitstaff dressed in traditional waiter garb of white shirt, red tie, black apron. The unforgettable atmosphere—one review referenced a singing chef.
Understandably, the closure of the Tramcar Restaurant has been taken without surrender. A petition titled ‘Save the colonial tramcar restaurant’ was launched on change.org with a goal of 10,000 signatures—it’s currently sitting at 8,176. Their listing on Google says ‘temporarily closed’ which suggests hope may still exist.
If after reading this, you too would like to dine in Melbourne’s Colonial Tramcar Restaurant, you can sign he petition via the link: www.change.org/p/ yarra-trams-save-the-colonial-tram-car/