Chae returns in new format, hosting cooking demos, workshops at new Cockatoo home

Our city’s smallest and most in-demand restaurant can finally reopen after a 12-month council battle — but there’s a catch.

Melbourne's smallest and most in-demand restaurant, Chae, can officially open in its new Cockatoo location. Picture: Rebecca Michael

Chae, Melbourne’s smallest and most in-demand restaurant, will officially reopen at its new Cockatoo location — but there’s a catch.

The owners of this six-seater, reservation-only eatery, which at one time had 6000 people on its waitlist, have for months been seeking a council permit to trade as a restaurant at their home.

But after a year of red tape wrangling, chef Jung Eun Chae and husband Yoora Yoon have changed tack and will now host intimate cooking workshops from September.

The experience will also include kitchen demonstrations, guided tours and menu tastings.

Yoon said after many meetings with the council, they were told they would no longer require a planning permit to run their business.

“We don’t need a permit as this is a home-based workshop,” he said.

“We will do cooking demonstrations and provide a tasting menu, as opposed to a formal dining menu — it’s a technicality.”

Yoon said Chae couldn’t call itself a restaurant and wouldn’t consider reapplying for the permit in the future.

Chae Jung Eun and husband Yoora Yoon.

“It’s been a massive learning curve for us. If we knew what we know now, we would have bypassed the (restaurant planning permit) application altogether,” he said.

Earlier this year restaurateur Iain Ling invited Chae to take up residency in the private dining room of his pub The Lincoln Arms to churn through the backlog of bookings.

Yoon said while Chae had initially attracted long waitlists, every month allowed a new opportunity to land a table.

“For general public bookings, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis,” he said.

“People are ready to book at 7pm on the dot — that’s when the traffic is highest, but we’re known to still have seats available at 7.20pm or even 7.30pm.”

Bookings to Chae 2.0 will open on August 1 at 7pm.

Chae moved from its one-bedroom Brunswick apartment base to a three-bedroom home in Cockatoo in the outer southeast last August.

Cardinia Shire spokesman said: “This application has been withdrawn by the applicant. No planning permit has been granted for a restaurant at the subject land.”