New restaurant openings in Melbourne May 2023: Magnum Pi set to open Richmond store
It grew a cult following in lockdown, now this Fitzroy pie pop-up has found a permanent Richmond home.
Food
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Fitzroy pie shop Magnum Pi is set to reopen in a new location following an eight-month hiatus.
Chef Jason Kubasek is moving his lockdown staple pie store to a permanent Richmond site next month.
“I am a little nervous, but excited to do it again,” Kubasek said.
“Having the freedom to be creative is fun.”
Kubasek launched the business two years ago and ran a four-month pop-up on Brunswick St, Fitzroy from May to September last year.
Magnum Pi’s popular OG beef flavour, generously filled with slow-braised Angus beef, veg and merlot gravy, will return.
He’ll have more pulled beef pies on the menu, as well as the moussaka lamb pie “for something different”.
“The idea is to have a liquor licence and a few seats out the front so you can have a beer or wine with your pie,” he said.
Magnum Pi, 348 Burnley St, Richmond. Opening June.
Coffee snob’s Clyde North brew
Specialty coffee and woodfired pizzas have landed in Clyde North.
Matilda’s Cafe and Woodfired Kitchen has been churning the good stuff daily since early May.
Co-owner Varun Mendiratta made it his mission to bring liquid gold to the area when he relocated three years ago.
“I’m a bit of a coffee snob,” he said.
“Before we opened, the only places to go were either in Beaconsfield or Berwick.”
He acquired a taste for premium coffee while working at Melbourne’s Qantas International First Class lounge and Rugby legend George Gregan’s coffee empire GG’s Espresso in Canberra.
All Press beans aren’t the only drawcard, with wood-fired pizzas also luring locals.
Chef Jason Kubasek, behind lockdown-famous Magnum Pi pies, has crafted Matilda’s all-day menu — which includes a fully fledged brunch with four types of eggs benedict, burgers, poke bowls, pasta and grilled meats.
“It’s nothing too elaborate. Just a good solid breakfast place where people can get their eggs Benedict and smashed avo,” Kubasek said.
A woodfired pizza oven has been imported from Italy for the restaurant.
“I’m eating a pizza everyday, they’re that good,” he said.
Mendiratta, along with partners Manish Khanna and Nitin Bhargava, hope the space will get more families around the dinner table.
“I wanted to work and manage a venue that invites people to come and spend time with one another,” Khanna said.
“Matilda’s was a good opportunity for us to open in a community where more people will be out dining, where families will be coming in with children.”
Matilda’s Cafe and Woodfired Kitchen, 121 Grices Rd, Clyde North
Chadstone’s rooftop bar calls first drinks
Sky-high bars are having a moment in Melbourne.
Weeks after South Yarra glamourpuss Beverly opened its doors, Chadstone will launch its first ever rooftop bar at Cityfields next Friday.
“I never thought we’d open in a shopping centre — never,” co-owner Adam Wright-Smith said.
The Cali-inspired open-air space with unrivalled city views and a massive fire pit will also be home to a thriving bar, complete with cocktail-shaker machine, ‘Sling Shaker’, seen at Singapore’s famous Raffles Hotel.
Wright-Smith said the design was inspired by Palm Springs and LA rooftops.
It’ll also be home to Cityfields all-you-can-eat-and-drink boozy brunches on weekends, with a private dining room offering reprieve from the buzz.
Chef Tim Martin (formerly of Untitled) will prepare the same food offering as the casual eatery downstairs, which includes wood fire steaks, daily-made pastas, kingfish crudo, cheeseburgers, with a roving dessert cart dedicated to cakes and tarts.
Wright-Smith said Cityfield’s bells and whistles were different to he was used to.
“It’s far different to Half Acre (in South Melbourne), which has zero foot traffic,” he said.
“It’s the polar opposite — it’s all wow-factor and lives in Chadstone; which is a CBD in itself it’s that big.”
The first stage of his two-level New York/Euro-inspired brasserie opened last month, part of the shopping behemoth’s new entertainment hub The Social Quarter.
But the rooftop launch was delayed due to construction woes.
First drinks will be called Friday June 2.
Cityfields, Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Rd, Chadstone.
Why parmas won’t be axed in pub revamp
Turning an old Rutherglen pub into a modern masterpiece sounds like a risky move.
But for ‘corporate goons’ turned-publicans Kate and Matt Halpin, The Victoria Hotel takeover was more of a homecoming.
“It wasn’t intentional,” said Kate, who grew up in nearby Albury.
The duo was looking to trade their corporate city jobs to buy the freehold of a country pub.
“We wanted to do something on our own and had looked over the eastern seaboard for the right place. This was the one that spoke to us. As soon as I walked into the building, I said: ‘This is her’.”
The Halpins bought the building’s freehold in 2021, embarking on an ambitious multimillion-dollar redevelopment which would bring a slice of the city to the historic winemaking town.
A new-look dining room, zoned into more elevated and casual experiences, sprawling beer garden and boutique on-site accommodation will be part of the revamp.
“We know people are visiting Rutherglen, but they aren’t staying for long,” Kate said.
“We want to create a reason for them to visit and stay longer. We are diversifying the landscape and want to create a space that the community loves and everyone feels at home.”
The Victoria is in the final recruiting stages for a head chef, with its food to be a mix of open-flame cooking and pub classics.
“You can’t run a successful pub without a good parma, we know that, that’s why we are including the classics,” Kate said.
The wine and drinks list has also been given considerable thought.
“We are working with winemakers to establish a foundational wine list. We don’t want to be hyper-local, more northeast Victorian wines only. We want it to be dynamic and change seasonally.”
The Victoria Hotel is set to open in spring 2023. 90 Main St, Rutherglen.
US-sweets truck finds Werribee home
A Hoppers Crossing food truck selling American sweets has found a permanent Werribee home.
Joey Spiteri’s Sweet Street Desserts has grown a cult following for its American fair-inspired funnel cakes and cheesecake on a stick since 2019.
But when Spiteri found a bricks and mortar store, beneath Werribee’s Holiday Inn, he took the chance to rebrand to Baby J’s – and add new menu items.
“When I came back from the States, I wanted to open my own sandwich shop,” he said.
“The sandwich scene is so big now in Melbourne, it’s like a new shop pops up every week. So we took this opportunity to create a New York-inspired menu.”
Baby J’s has eight sangers, including six toasted and two fresh, such as meatball, chicken parma and pastrami as well as mushroom and tuna melts.
Baby J’s doesn’t have a head chef, with Spiteri, his mum and nonna helping out in the kitchen.
“We sell about 40 to 50 meatball subs a day,” he said.
“My mum and amazing family have been a great support over the past three months.”
Baby J’s still sells its signature desserts, including the legendary funnel cake (a pancake, doughnut and waffle hybrid), cheesecake on a stick, churros, loukoumades and more.
Baby J’s, G1/17 Duncans Rd, Werribee
Franco’s opens in Maldon
Aside from a couple of pubs, Maldon didn’t have an occasion restaurant.
That was until Franco Caruso moved to town.
Last month he opened Britalian restaurant Franco’s on the main drag – a nod to his Glaswegian-Calabrian roots.
“I wanted to do something good up here for the people at night time,” he said.
“I’m really enjoying being in the kitchen and cooking fresh pasta dishes; it’s something I’ve wanted to do for years.”
The former Young Scottish Chef of the Year worked in Michelin-starred restaurants abroad but in Melbourne was known for his time at Brunswick West’s Rude Boy Burger, Lolo and Wren and Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder.
In 2020, he moved his family to the outskirts of Maldon to chase his country cooking dream.
At Franco’s, expect a short selection of small bites and larger shares, such as housemade pastas, sweet corn and polenta croquettes, tiger prawns in chilli and garlic, and a tiramisu made with fortified shiraz.
You’ll also spot local Goughs Range olives and extra virgin oil, honey, cheese and biodynamic lamb and beef on the menu.
“I’m using green peppercorns from local pepper trees in the cacio e pepe risotto with osso bucco,” Caruso said.
“Even thebeef and lamb is from a couple of kilometres away. There’s just so much good stuff out here — it really needs to be spoken about more.”
Franco’s, 24 High St, Maldon, Wed-Sun from 5pm, francosbar.com.au
Grossi’s Lower Plenty steakhouse link
Chef Paul Cooper’s new restaurant may be a steakhouse, but he’s not ignoring the history of the Lower Plenty site.
Stix Restaurant and Bar is hoping to bring a new energy to the neighbourhood, in the former La Fontana Ristorante, which was one of Guy Grossi’s first restaurants.
“We’ll be making a lot of handmade pastas, at least four a day, as well as five to six steaks,” Cooper said. “I think, in a romantic sort of way, it’s great to carry on that tradition – there’s a touch of Florentino to it.”
Flinders and Co will be one of the restaurant’s beef suppliers, with Cooper cooking all steaks over a custom wood-fired charcoal pit.
“The grill will be the same style as Rockpool. We’ll also have a few former Rockpool chefs in the kitchen,” he said.
“Stix will be a family friendly steakhouse, but there’ll still be classics such as chicken parma – I’d be doing more damage to myself if I didn’t put it on the menu.”
Cooper, who also own’s Yarra Valley restaurant Fergusson Winery and Estate, said Stix would cater to families, as well as locals looking for a good night out.
“It’s more of an approachable restaurant with good quality ingredients … and a dedicated kids’ menu. But there’ll be also something for foodies.”
When the liquor licence lands in the coming weeks, Stix will shake up cocktails using nearby Eltham distillery Naught gin, and pour drops from nearby Yarra Valley wineries.
Stix Restaurant and Bar, 410 Main Rd, Lower Plenty
Stix Restaurant and Bat, 410 Main Rd, Lower Plenty
Pentridge welcomes new chef
A prison-themed menu at Pentridge’s new bistro? Chef Mark Glenn would be lying if he said he hadn’t entertained the idea.
“I did for a bit,” he said. “Who knows, maybe for an event in the future, but for now I’m just focusing on making really good quality food. We won’t be doing Chopper’s ears or anything like that.”
Glenn returned to Melbourne after two years at Canberra’s now defunct Pialligo Estate, to lead the kitchen at North and Common at Coburg’s new-look Pentridge entertainment hub. He’ll replace outgoing chef Thomas Woods, who will depart the group after a short tenure, later this month.
The duo are working on creating North and Common’s first menu, which will be served to the public when it opens Wednesday.
Glenn is hoping to bring some of Pialligo Estate’s farm-to-table practices to North and Common.
“I’ll be focusing on working directly with farmers and growers I have worked with in the past,”
he said.
“It’s about understanding provenance and reaching out to the local community.”
While Coburg’s terrain is more metropolitan than the lush Canberra farms he became used to, Glenn is hoping to tap into locals who may have an oversupply of home grown fruit or vegetables.
“They may have figs on their tree that we could use. It’ll be a transactional situation,” he said.
Glenn will also contribute to the snack menu of neighbouring wine bar Olivine, which opened last month.
North and Common, 1 Pentridge Blvd, Coburg
Secret Indian food truck feeding city’s west
If you live in West Footscray, you may have heard of The Spice Truck.
Behind the rattling of a roller door lies a largely word of mouth food van selling smashed samosa burgers, tandoori wraps, butter chicken pies and spiced fries every weekend from 5pm.
Nothing costs more than $20 and everything is made to order, aside from the new weekly curries which have been bubbling away on the stove hours before opening.
Sometimes it’s lamb Mughai, baby goat or fish and prawns. Most nights they sell out.
The Spice Truck is owned by the Tiwari family, who have been entrenched in the suburb for more than 30 years through their spice shop Bharat Traders.
Owner Pradeep Tiwari said the idea to run a food truck was first coined in lockdown.
“We purchased it with the view that most of (Barkly St’s) operators had closed down and the strip was looking dead – all that vibrancy had fallen away in Covid,” he said.
“We thought we’d start a food truck offering for takeaway, to give the locals a place to chat and try something different while retaining that village vibrancy.”
The small truck is parked out the back of Bharat Traders on Blandford St.
Everything is designed to be taken away, though you can enjoy a Hop Temple beer from the keg or spiced nuts or chickpeas under the tarpaulin marquee while you wait.
Pradeeps’s mother Sheela and sister Pratibha cook authentic dishes inspired by their Varanasi upbringing and use ingredients, aside from meat and veg, from Bharat Traders.
“The response has been really good,” Pradeep said.
“The rice and curries have taken over (in popularity) from the base menu. We thought it was a novel idea that wouldn’t work, but it turns out people love novelty.”
The Spice Truck changes its curry flavours every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with a vegan and meat offering available each night.
The Spice Truck, 580a Barkly St, West Footscray (Enter via Blandford St).
Melbourne mates open Tickled Pink Bali
Bali may be oversubscribed with western cafes slinging avo on toast.
Yet two Melbourne mates are paying homage to their home town with a new venue celebrating our marvellous city.
Tickled Pink opened in Canggu last month; the walls 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.
“And then there’s us,” co-owner Rashid Alshak said, who runs the all-day eatery with
Aydin Devel.
The duo opened their first cafe in Thornbury in 2019, expanding to sites in Richmond and Elwood, before striking a friendship with Potato Head co-founder Jason Gunawan. He helped fast-track plans to move abroad.
“We wanted the quality of our Melbourne venue to be at a Melbourne level,” Alshak said.
“You can’t just take something and whack it in the middle of a rice field and think it’ll fit.”
Executive chef Alizza Reyes does this by using a mix of local and Aussie supplies to build the all-day offering, featuring familiar faves such as smashed avo on toast, sticky lamb ribs, and harissa-coated rump cap steak.
Alshak said the Canggu outpost was unlike their Melbourne cafes.
“It’s at a whole different level. We’ve gone from running neighbourhood cafes and being quite local to moving to Bali and creating something at an international level.”
The Canggu site is home to an all-day indoor restaurant overlooking rice paddies, with sprawling lawns, pool, bar and rooftop to view Balinese sunrises and sunsets.
On-site villas will be part of the site’s next chapter.
Tickled Pink follows the lead of other Melbourne-inspired cafes in Bali.
Rowville’s Adam McAsey is behind the holiday island’s most popular venues Sisterfields and Bikini.
Sad salads to bargain bowls: How SilkSpoon saved lunch in the city
This cheery Chinese kiosk has gone from zero to lunch time hero in a matter of months, with under $20 meals bound to keep city workers happy.
Six hotly anticipated restaurant openings to watch out for in 2025
After a dire 2024, the city’s dining landscape is showing signs of new life — with a swag of top-tier chefs opening new restaurants this year.