Marion

Marion opened on Gertrude Street in 2015 as Andrew McConnell's fourth venue on the strip, spanning two shopfronts next door to his two-hat restaurant Cutler & Co. The room keeps the bones of the site's past life as a metal-plating factory - white-washed brick, an untouched original floor, black leather, dark wood and ceiling-high wine racks around a small curved bar, with an open kitchen anchoring the left-hand side. In 2025 it celebrated ten years and was inducted into Broadsheet's Ten-Year Club, cementing it as one of the venues that helped set the template for Melbourne's wine-bar boom.

The draw is one of the most comprehensive wine lists in the neighbourhood, running deep on orange wines and less-familiar varietals like gruner veltliner, chenin blanc and gamay, alongside a daily-changing menu of oysters, bay scallops and charcuterie from McConnell's own butcher, Meatsmith.

For guests skipping alcohol, Marion holds a real low-and-no section rather than a lone token option. Time Out Melbourne highlights an Italian Orange Spritz made with verjus and tonic, a Spritz Veneziano, and a sparkling salted raspberry-and-cranberry drink - builds that lean on the same verjus-forward, ingredient-led thinking the kitchen applies everywhere else.

It is a moody, grown-up room built for lingering, and the non-alcoholic pours are treated with the same care as the wine, which makes it a rare zero-proof-friendly stop among Fitzroy's serious drinking dens.