Morris Jones

WHERE AND WHAT

A gastropub-style restaurant and cocktail bar open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper seven days a week. That seems to cover all the bases. Morris Jones is nothing if not accommodating, combining a serious bar attracting seriously lovely barflies, and a restaurant that's working hard to please everyone at all hours. The definition of impossibility, perhaps - still, Morris Jones gets points if you are after sceney insouciance with a side order of fashionable frippery.

WHERE TO SIT

The design from Russell & George gutted the interior of the 19th-century building and rebuilt it around a huge central bar. Exposed red brick, lots of timber and a flattering mix of lighting make it an easy place in which to hang out, although the party noise levels can impose on the restaurant crowd. Bar and restaurant aside, there are different lounge areas including a mezzanine and a courtyard with a de rigueur wall of greenery.

WHEN TO GO

Monday to Friday, 11am-1am; Saturday-Sunday, 9am-1am (kitchen open daily until 12.30am).

DRINK

Cocktails are the go here, with the tribe of young bartenders in a shaking frenzy over classics and house inventions that stick to the tasteful side of mixology. The Aussie-French wine list has a solid selection by the glass and a few bottles in the sub-$40 bracket.

EAT

Unlike the bartenders' shirts, which will divide the audience over the merits of gingham in a non-farming context, the menu at Morris Jones is designed to please. Find breakfasts (until 4pm) of Breton crepes with gruyere and ham; lunches of caesar salad and multilayered sandwiches. Dinners are mostly about comforting European food, with occasional outbreaks of more outre techniques and plating design from the contemporary school. Ocean trout carpaccio topped with a pile of picked blue swimmer crab, leaves and microherbs and finished with a flourish of lemon jelly makes a sprightly entree; king prawns thrown on the chargrill and finished with a throat-tickling chilli butter are a more gutsy iteration of the menu's Med-leaning nature. Steak picks up a good charry crust from the wood grill; add an affordable side such as the salad of baby beets, rocket and manchego. And do hit the duck pappardelle if it's on - it's good, unlike a dark chocolate fondant that could have been much gooier.

WHO'S THERE

The young and the young at heart, dressed to the max in designer clobber.

WHY BOTHER?

A good first stop on a big night out - or the last stop on the crawl home.