Newtown's Continental Deli Bar & Bistro will open a branch at Phillip Street in the Sydney CBD in June. "Construction will take three or four months, the front bar will be similar [to the Newtown original]," co-owner Joe Valore says. "The site is set over one level. There'll be an open kitchen and a bar out the back with vermouth and aperitifs," he adds. Valore confirmed they'd also like to expand the Porteno brand into the city down the track.

Bistro Moncur chalks up an impressive 25 years on March 3, and as equally impressive as the longevity of some of its menu items is its timeless logo and Michael Fitzjames' mural. Founder Damien Pignolet, who has collaborated with his old haunt on a menu of Moncur classics available throughout March, recalls Fitzjames was at the meeting when he decided on the Bistro Moncur name. The artist immediately drew the famed heart and knife logo. He walked away, and he sketched the mural. Twenty minutes later he came back with this fantastic image. And he said: "Here it is, The Crowd. And we said, hmm, 'Les habitues'."