Top Paddock

Easy to see why it’s so busy

Breakfast and lunch: very important down this end of Church Street, which is very good news for visitors staying in Richmond’s most desirable new boutique accommodation, 381 Cremorne.

Don’t be alarmed by the crowds. Yes, Top Paddock is a busy eatery, but that’s because its reputation is so strong.

You can see it from the way there so often seems to be little groups of hungry people hovering near the doors, and from the way the super-efficient staff deal with every new arrival in a brisk and easy manner.

Maybe it’s the name that first draws attention. While the long paddock is that bit of land running alongside roads where animals can graze for free, the top paddock is notoriously that place where the ‘roos run a bit wild. That is, are a bit loose. That is, not quite sane.

The only thing insane about this place is the quality of the food, which is very good indeed. It’s casual and functional inside, lots of gleaming wood and polished surfaces.

The menu runs from toast to trout, with top-notch coffee and everything else of the best quality, which is why it looks so good and tastes even better.

Enjoy browsing in this corner of Richmond, with the up-and-coming Cremorne laneway district on one side and, on the other, the bridge across the Yarra that crosses the Capital City walking and bike trail.

It was once the place to go for warehouse shopping; before that, this part of industrial Richmond was all factories and depots. Those brick walls, now so prized by renovation architects, were really just pure function.

Now, this precinct is peppered with upmarket design showrooms and fabulous restaurants like Top Paddock. Great place for people-spotting: you never know who you’ll see at the next table.