Exclusive wine club 67 Pall Mall set to open in Melbourne
It costs $3500 to sign-up, and $4500 for yearly membership. Is it worth the hype? The hundreds of wine loving Melburnians who signed up in the past month think so.
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Access to Melbourne’s hottest new private members’ club will cost you $4500 a year — and that’s if you can afford the $3500 sign-up fee.
That figure hasn’t stopped 67 Pall Mall’s membership surging by 450 per cent in six weeks.
The London-born private wine club is set to open its first Aussie outpost next year, and chief executive Grant Ashton said we should believe the hype.
“We had 40 Australian members at our opening event in February and we have added between 210 and 220 members in the last six weeks,” he said.
“I think there is pent up demand for these new-style clubs. Rather than the club being owned by a membership, or socialised club, such as the Melbourne, Savage or Athenaeum, this is a proprietary club owned by the shareholder.”
67 Pall Mall is a wine lovers take on celebrity magnet Soho House — which snubbed Melbourne for Sydney for its Australian HQ.
It boasts as having “one of the major wine lists in Australia” with 1000 new and old world pours by the glass, and 5000-strong bottle list at your disposal.
At it’s new site, currently under construction at 85 Spring in the former ‘Esanda House’, there will also be three in-house restaurants, a champagne and whisky bar, and office spaces.
Members still have to fork out funds for wine and food they consume, though the mark-up will be significantly lower than restaurants, according to Mr Ashton.
So will something like this work in cash-strapped Melbourne — still reeling in the wake of Covid lockdowns and an economy and population inferior to London or New York?
“Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Mr Ashton said.
“Melbourne would seem to be a very strong market. Melbourne is a gastronomic place... and being within reach to the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula was very important to us,” he said.
“Sydney was an option, and we will do something in Sydney, but this is an easier market. “Property pricing is frankly cheaper in Melbourne than Sydney. Plus Melbourne is a strategic city, and straddles between being a big city and a wine city like Beaune or Bordeaux in France.”
“I think the reaction I have had from a lot of people is that there are people who are willing to invest in a project like this and everyone tells me Melbourne wants a place like this — a new style of club which doesn’t exist.”
67 Pall Mall is actively recruiting new members, with the $3500 joining fee waived for the first 500 sign-ups.
67 Pall Mall Melbourne, 85 Spring St, 2025
Meet the new chefs calling the shots at these top restaurants
Melbourne chefs have been playing a game of musical restaurants of late— and there are a few new players part of the kitchen reshuffle.
Young gun chef Pieter Buijsse has left the Mornington Peninsula, trading his executive chef reign at super-luxe hotel restaurants Jackalope for South Yarra’s Bar Carolina.
Buijsse, who previously worked at Laura and Pt. Leo Estate, is paring back the restaurant’s food offering, which owner Joe Mammone says has crept into ‘special occassion’ territory.
“The past few years, we’ve been pushing into ‘special occasion’ territory, which is never where we wanted to be,” he said.
“Bar Carolina is the place you drop in a few times a week.”
In Coburg, star chef Mark Glenn has hung up the apron at Pentridge Prison fine diner North and Common for a gig in the Lucas Restaurants stable.
Glenn has moved into a group executive role, with newcomer and Indian chef Abhijit (Abhi) Dey filling the void.
Fresh from a stint at Sydney’s Silvester’s Restaurant, Abhi is now making his mark on the northern suburbs site.
The Hellenic House Project’s leading man Anthony Thalassinos has taken a job with the Tickled Pink boys Rashid Alshak and Aydin Devel.
Thalassinos, who worked with owner George Calombaris at the Press Club, will oversee the food direction across the duo’s Melbourne and Bali cafes.
Last April they opened a Tickled Pink in Canggu; decked with work by Melbourne artists Marcos Diaz and Aki Yaguchi, Reservoir’s Dimattina beans whirring on the machine and our city’s signature “magic” coffee on pour.
Meanwhile ex-Cutler and Co chef Jordan Clavaron is on the pans at South Melbourne’s Lucia.
The Mediterranean restaurant, from the same stable as Riserva, Baia Di Vino and San Lorenzo, opened earlier this month.
Melbourne hospo stalwarts open first city cafe
A caterer turned posh grocer has opened a new city outpost.
Blakeaway, run by stalwart chef Andrew Blake, his wife Jennie, daughter Neredah McIntosh and business partner Kasey Thompson, launched its first city store at 101 Collins building last month.
And in a Blakeaway first, the 16-seater will sell hot food and allow customers to eat-in.
Syrian chicken and spiced couscous, lasagne and slaw, chicken noodle soup and beef rendang will be on rotation, as well as coffee, juices, sandwiches and pastries.
Blakeaway’s sigantue ready-made meals will also be yours for the taking, alongside pre-batch cocktails, condiments, glassware, platters and homewares.
The CBD store is the sixth to open since the family closed their long-running catering business Blakes Feast in 2022.
The successful lockdown project evolved into a bricks and mortar operation within eight months of launching, opening its first store in Portsea followed by Armadale, Brighton, South Yarra and a cafe window in Glen Iris. More Blakeaway locations are coming in 2024.
“We have wanted to open in the Melbourne CBD for some time now and to be in the iconic 101 Collins Building is really exciting,” Neredah said.
“We want to be a genuine, quality solution for breakfast, lunch and dinner for those who are a bit time-pressed and need an easy grab and go.”
“We also believe office catering should be wholesome and delicious which is why we created the catering menu for the building and its surrounds.”
Blakeaway, 90 Collins St, Melbourne, blakeaway.com.au
AFL legend’s South Melbourne brew-pub comes to life
AFL legend David Neitz is opening a pub.
The three-level drinking house will be named after, and provide a base for, his charitable craft beer brand Brewmanity.
With kegs and coldies at the ready, Brewmanity will open to punters this Friday, with a chatty beer hall overlooking a functioning brewery and vast terrace boasting city views.
A rooftop bar, with even better skyline views, is coming mid-April.
Expect 34 beers on tap, crafted by head brewer Tim Miller, including the ‘mouth of the south’, ‘accidental hero Asian lager’ and ‘bang on hazy mid’.
Share food is the game, with the mega beer braised lamb shoulder feeding five to six people something to get excited about. Add tacos, creamy slaw, pic de gallo and cheese for the ultimate DIY taco party.
Head chef Suman is also behind a chef’s board, piled high with fruit, cheese, meat, lavosh and olives, arancini, sliders and pretzels with dippings.
Neitz is the longest-serving Dees captain, and played more than 300 games for the club in his career.
Through Brewmanity, he’s raised almost $1m in for Fight MND in support of his mate Neale Daniher.
Brewmanity, 44-50 Tope Street, South Melbourne, brewmanity.com.au
Cult bakery opens third Melbourne outpost
Cult sourdough bakery Baker Bleu is opening its third and largest store so far.
Unlike its other outposts, the Cremorne base will be the brand’s largest Melbourne venue.
Seating 20 inside, and alfresco dining on Dover St, the all-day cafe and bakery will sell loaves, rolls and pastries alongside sandwiches and sourdough pizzas.
Baker Bleu’s bread has developed a cult following with foodies; with its country roll wheel a dinner party staple.
Owners Mike and Mia Russell first launched the brand in Elsternwick in 2016, opening stores in Caulfield North, Hawksburn and Double Bay, Sydney.
“We’re thrilled to be opening a store in Cremorne,” Mike said.
“It’s a slightly different market for us and marks an exciting new chapter for Baker Bleu, it’s something bigger than anything we’ve done before.”
“We’ll be serving all the Baker Bleu products Melburnians know and love, with the option to sit down and settle in.”
Baker Bleu, 65 Dover St, Cremorne. Opening spring 2024.
Clue to finding CBD’s new secret underground bar
Look for the full-length mirror.
If that fails, keep an eye out for the vintage dressing room door.
Melbourne’s newest underground watering hole Mill Place Merchants is taking a leaf from bar’s gone by with its ‘unassuming entry’.
Directors Paawan Engineer (Cuff Melbourne, Hyatt International) and Takashi Paawan Engineer will open the charming speakeasy, inside Melbourne’s last flour mill, in late April.
Cocktails will be the focus, led by award-winning Italian mixologist Giancarlo Mancino.
He’ll shake up a mix of classic and curated tipples, celebrating the original cocktail creators such as Harry McElhone of Harry’s Bar and Jeremiah P Thomas.
High-end wines and beers will also be on pour.
Smart, bite-sized snacks will line the tummy and include treats such as saltbush sprinkled devilled eggs, Yarra Valley caviar swiped with salt and vinegar chips, cocktail sangers, kingfish crudo, cheese and charcuterie.
Rum baba and chocolate ganache will round out the sweets.
“Mill Place Merchants will not just be a bar, but a destination, an establishment, our home, where people are welcomed with authentic hospitality,” Paawan said.
“It will be a destination venue for those who embrace and value good, old fashioned customer service, with a warm and welcoming ambience and a big emphasis on community spirit.”
Mill Place Merchants, 2 Mill Place, Melbourne. Opening late April.
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