Brunetti opens new Melbourne CBD restaurant on Flinders Lane

MELBOURNE’S coffee and cake institution is back with a vengeance in a bigger and better space, more than seven months after being forced from its original City Square location to make way for the Metro Tunnel.

Chef Simon Moss in the new Brunetti restaurant, which opens in Flinders Lane this month. Picture: Nicole Cleary

As they say, when one door closes, another opens.

That’s certainly been the case for Melbourne coffee-and-cake institution Brunetti, as while its old City Square home has made way for the Metro Tunnel, it’s about to move into much fancier new digs just around the corner.

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The 300-seat restaurant has moved round the corner from its old digs. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Opening on Monday, the 300-seat Techne-designed Flinders Lane restaurant is similar in size to the Carlton original and features a retail wine wall, gelato bar, deli section and Campari Bar where spritz will be the drink of the day (and night).

Chef Simon Moss — ex-Entrecote, Sapore — is helping owners the Angele family realise a long-held ambition for this Brunetti to be a dining destination in its own right.

For along with the traditional cakes, desserts and pastries Brunetti is famous for, a full menu of pizza, pasta and pannini will be served for lunch and dinner.

The former City Square premises. Picture: Sarah Matray

Pasta might take the form of a carbonara garnished with shaved cured egg yolk, or gnocchi bolognese with gremolata “crisps”, while pizzas will come from the Marana Forni wood oven that’s impressively suspended from the roof.

It wouldn’t be Brunetti without coffee to go with that cake, and to mark the new store, an exclusive Brunetti blend has been created by global Italian coffeehouse Lavazza roasted in Melbourne.

Brunetti at 250 Flinders Lane opens on Nov 20 and then daily from 6am-11pm (midnight Fri-Sat). brunetti.com.au