Marion is the wine bar next to Cutler & Co, both from Andrew McConnell, one of Melbourne's most influential restaurateurs. It is a small, stylish room with an open kitchen and bottles racked along the walls, built around a deliberately wide-ranging, low-intervention wine list and a short menu of snacks and shared plates designed to go with it. The food is simple but exact — charcuterie, cheese, a few hot dishes off the wood grill.
The format is the appeal: you can drop in for a single glass and a plate of something, or settle in for the evening, without the formality of a full restaurant. It captures the current Gertrude Street mood better than almost anywhere else on the strip. Walk-ins are possible early; it fills up later.