Harry & Frankie

Every on-radar shopping strip has its game-changing businesses, the ones that first had people crossing town and name-dropping the address. Gertrude Street's current (almost terminal) hipness can be traced back to the arrival of Ladro and the Gertrude Street Enoteca while Rumi and Hellenic Republic caused a critical mass of heads to swivel in the direction of Lygon Street in Brunswick East. It seems something similar might be happening in Bay Street in Port Melbourne following the arrival of Harry & Frankie.

Part of the hybrid winebar/bottleshop/cafe genre at which Melbourne excels, Harry & Frankie is a good-looking, good-natured place that does everything it sets out to do very well, from its attractive, flexible fitout through to a thoroughly engaging list of wines that can be drunk in or carried away.

The large, high-ceilinged shop front is flatteringly lit and has been cleverly divided into a series of distinct spaces. There's a timber-clad, cafe-like area up the front, then the main bar in the middle with its communal table-like extension down one end, under a charming cork-clad arched roof. At the back, there's a more restaurant-like configuration with ochre-coloured booths and banquettes for those who find even the idea of perching on a stool all night a little trying (though the H & F bar stools are wide seated and comfortable). Running most of the length of the room is the bottleshop wall, all clean-lined joinery and immaculately presented fridges full of meticulously aligned bottles sporting niftily designed swing-tags. If you can't be bothered eyeballing the wines on the shelves, there's a short, constantly changing list of wines on the menu, which also carries the food offering alongside impressive lists of sherries and fortified wines, cognac, grappa and whisky.

There's good beer too, a couple on tap that tend to change frequently and a list of bottled stuff that leans toward the craft, and hops all over the place from the Mornington Peninsula (Red Hill Scotch Ale, $10) to the US (Rogue Morimoto Ceramic Imperial Pilsner from Oregon, $49 for 750ml).

But, really, wine is the thing here and it's a good idea to hand yourself over to the competent, unpretentious staff, who will steer you towards something delicious without boring you or giving your credit card any unnecessary pummelling, unless, of course, that's what you've come here to do.

Bargain-hunters will be particularly thrilled with the two wines on tap made specifically for Harry & Frankie (at the moment, a pinot gris from the Yarra Valley and a shiraz from central Victoria) and are going for $7 a glass or $20 for a carafe. Definitely bang for your buck, given the quality of the wine.

Food-wise, Harry & Frankie walks the quality preserved meat and cheese path with a good range of respectfully treated treats, local and imported, and artfully displayed in illuminated glass cases. They also do a range of "grand cru" toasties (all $10) with fillings like roast chicken breast with aioli, spinach and cheese, plus olives, pates, terrines and oysters.

Harry & Frankie is the sort of effortlessly hospitable place that has you pining for it after you leave, something that seems a little at odds with the Port Melbourne location (not that the area is bereft of good places to eat, but you've always had to do a fair bit of sifting to find them).

If the Bay Street game was going to be changed, this modest, good-boned charmer might well be the business to do it.

Drink this Great quality wines on tap, made with direct input from co-owner Tom Hogan.

Eat this Freshly shucked oysters, mollycoddled cheese.

Check this If you look closely at the design printed on the arched, cork-lined ceiling you can make out the faces of Harry and Frankie, bar namesakes and children of the owners.