Chapel St: Underground restaurant to open in Love and Lewis building
A unique underground restaurant is set to open in Chapel St, while another bar is also on the way. Here’s what the popular strip’s winers and diners can expect.
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An underground restaurant is set to open beneath one of Chapel St’s historic buildings after the plans got the thumbs up from VCAT.
The restaurant will operate in the basement of Prahan’s nine-storey Love and Lewis Building on the corner of Chapel and Wattle streets, next to the Pran Central Building.
A permit for the venue has been granted just months after the tribunal approved the opening of a bar on the building’s ground floor — also against the wishes of Stonnington Council and residents.
Applicant MOP 312 Retail has permission to open a restaurant and sell alcohol from noon to midnight every day of the week, with diners to access the basement from a staircase on Wattle St.
Down the stairs, patrons will find a waiting area and ‘pre-dinner drinks’ bar before an expansive dining area.
Once the space has been renovated, the restaurant’s opening will mark the first time the basement of the Edwardian-era building, which contains apartments and other business in the levels above, has been used in a decade.
Plans for the restaurant were given the go-ahead at the tribunal on January 13 — exactly 13 months after MOP 312 Retail first applied to open the restaurant with Stonnington Council on December 13, 2018.
The council refused the original plans in April, with its main concern the proposed sale and consumption of liquor for up to 366 patrons until midnight seven days per week.
Residents of the building also fought the restaurant proposal at the subsequent tribunal hearing, saying they were concerned it would impact their amenity.
Tribunal senior member Geoffrey Code reduced the restaurant’s plans when granting a permit, only allowing less than 200 patrons to be in the venue, rather than 366 patrons.
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Mr Code said another application could be made to extend the permit if another exit was later added to the restaurant.
He also placed a ban on customers using the pre-dinner drinks bar after 11 — when they wouldn’t have time to eat — and on people waiting outside the restaurant in Wattle St.
Plans for a bar on the ground level of 312-323 Chapel St, Prahran were approved by senior member Laurie Hewet on November 18, 2019 after they were rejected by the council.
Once open, the bar will be able to host up to 135 patrons at a time, and will have seating for 30, with some food available.
Neither venue is licensed to offer live music.