Abbotsford Convent newcomer Julie is a female-led restaurant with the ethos of an informal dinner party, where produce will be plucked from the adjoining vegetable garden and diners will be welcomed as friends.

The 50-seat heritage-listed venue, set to open on Thursday September 14, is the latest venture from Cam Miller (owner of neighbouring cafe and bar Cam’s Kiosk) in partnership with head chef Julieanne Blum and front-of-house manager Anna Clifford.

“The three of us are good friends who like to spend time together cooking, eating and drinking wine,” Clifford says.

“We wanted to recreate that feeling in this space, and make it feel like you’re just going over to a friend’s house for dinner.”

Restaurant namesake Blum was studying visual neuroscience when she first met Miller almost 10 years ago. At first, she was a fill-in barista with a research job and a love for home cooking. But when the head chef of Cam’s Kiosk left suddenly, Miller cajoled Blum into her first professional kitchen.

“I was like, no way. I’d nearly dropped out of school in year 10 to become a chef and eventually decided against it,” Blum tells Good Food.

“But he convinced me to give it three months, and I ended up loving it.”

The move ignited Blum’s culinary career, taking her to Bistro Elba in Sorrento and (now-closed) Fitzroy wine bar Gertrude Street Enoteca before returning to Cam’s as head chef six years ago. But the basic kitchen limited Blum’s menu scope to soups, salads and sandwiches.

“At Julie, I don’t have to be limited anymore,” Blum says. “It’ll be a really creative menu, where I can fry and char and grill whatever I want.”

The newfound freedom extends to the menu, which won’t adhere to any one cuisine or vision. Rather, it will evolve in accordance with the seasonal garden produce, and the inspiration Blum finds in the wider hospitality community.

In the first few weeks, diners can expect grilled oxheart with fresh borlotti beans, artichokes and a salsa verde using greens from the adjoining heritage garden; sardines with roasted chilli paste and oranges picked from Blum’s father’s garden; and whole flounder roasted with a herb crust and chilli butter.

“What I want to do at this restaurant is work together with my team to cook beautiful, delicious food for people,” Blum says.

“And beyond that, the most important thing to us is that we create a welcoming space, where people feel as though they’re walking into a friend’s home.

“While this restaurant will be at a higher price point than Cam’s, I still want people to feel like they can come in wearing their tracksuit pants and treat themselves to a fancy meal.”

The interiors are airy and bright, with lemon-coloured tiles, pale timber chairs and a view of the garden. At night, the space is illuminated by sculptural ceramic lights purpose-built by Abbotsford Convent resident potter Colin Hopkins (Porcelume).

Diners are welcome to walk in for a glass of wine on the 30-seat terrace, or make a booking for dinner indoors.

Head sommelier Claudelle Savannah (ex-Public Wine Shop) curated the wine list with Clifford. It focuses on accessible but forward-thinking winemakers, along with a few one-off or small-yield wines the team has been squirrelling away over the past months.

“It’s interesting, with Jules and me at the helm, a female chef coming on, and a female head sommelier, we have a lot of women on board,” Clifford says.

“It’s not something we did intentionally, but I’m pretty proud it’s something we ended up with.”

Open Thu-Sat noon-10pm; Sun noon-5pm (set menu lunch).

Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford, julierestaurant.com.au