With its thickly draped tables, crystalware sparkling in the candlelight and a backlit bar twinkling with promise, The Mayfair is Melbourne’s newest late-night supper club, not to mention the city’s most romantic dining room.

Channelling NYC 1930s glam to a soundtrack of jazz, clinking classes and cocktail shakers, and all the good cheer they bring forth, The Mayfair delivers a dining experience that’s one part elegant, two parts louche. And with dapper co-owner Joe Jones making serious – and seriously good – liquid classics it might be easy to be led astray in the dark and moody bar. But eating’s no afterthought, thanks to an equally classic bistro menu executed with aplomb.

A made-to-order crumpet, at once airy and crunchy, comes topped with chunky spanner crab that’s outrageously good, while the red gum-fuelled grill is put to excellent use on a range of artfully charred steaks.

Cloaked in butter and capers and served whole on the bone, the dory is an affirmation of simple is best that’s backed up by a textbook brulee that’s all tooth-sticking toffee and voluptuous custard class.

A separate late-night menu – think scrambled eggs, steak frites and sausage rolls – is the type of fare that goes down at any hour, especially after a ‘Mayfair Swizzle’ (cachaca, Manzanilla sherry, lime and honey) or three.

With an eye on the future by channelling the past, The Mayfair’s cosy decadence means you had better plan a late night.

Must eat dish: Crab crumpet
Instagram: @themayfairrestaurant