New restaurant openings in Victoria January 2024: Roasting Warehouse opens Athens outpost
After a freak fire and restaurant break-in, the fate of Megan Gale and ex-Tigers star Shaun Hampson’s Ascot Vale restaurant has been revealed.
Food
Don't miss out on the headlines from Food. Followed categories will be added to My News.
If bad things come in threes, chef Dave Stewart hit the trifecta last year.
First came the post-Covid hospitality survival months, then a restaurant fire which destroyed his beloved neighbourhood haunt Ascot Food and Wine, and days before Christmas, a break-in.
Now the Melbourne chef is entering 2024 with a new game plan.
He’s heading abroad, closing the Ascot Vale cafe and restaurant he owned with Megan Gale and ex-Tigers player Shaun Hampson indefinitely.
Hampson said with the building’s lease coming up, the timing wasn’t right to reopen the beloved suburban restaurant.
“I feel like our hand has been forced,” Hampson said.
“The business model is great and ... the quality of food is great. There’s no reason why we can’t do this again. But our plan for the foreseeable future is we’re taking a hiatus.”
In the meantime, Roasting Warehouse founder George Paraskevopoulos has taken Stewart under his wing to bring Melbourne’s famed speciality coffee and brunch to Athens.
“I can’t wait to have an Australian brunch in Greece,” he said.
“Greeks are doing brunch, but they’re a little bit behind. Remember when people served rocket with breakfast? They’re still doing that.”
Stewart will lead the cafe’s food direction, taking dishes from Roasting Warehouse’s Airport West mega cafe to the new Athens site, which opens on February 9.
Stewart said one of the biggest adjustments would be adapting to the European way of life.
“They don’t really do breakfast. It’s more pastries and lunch,” he said.
“You really have to be prepared and open-minded. That’s why I’m heading over a week and a bit before opening, and I’ll be spending a lot of time at the markets and with suppliers.”
Stewart’s will focus on delivering simple, flavour-packed dishes across the all-day menu.
“It’s not about flowers and bullsh-- but flavour,” he said.
Ascot Food and Wine classic salmon rosti is getting a whirl, tweaked with white taramasalata and saganaki for a Greek touch.
Roasting Warehouse beans will be on the machine, with the coffee program run by 2023 Hellenic Barista Champion Nikos Antzaras.
Stewart will look to reopen Ascot Food and Wine, which he’ll run independently, on his return.
Colt Dining’s new direction after ‘devastating’ blaze
Matti Fallon has had better Friday nights at work.
Three weeks earlier, he’d opened his dream venue, Colt Dining, on Mornington’s main drag.
From all accounts the food and drinks were great — and the tunes even better.
Fallon, a self-confessed music nerd, had bought a record player for the venue to put his impressive 5000 vinyl catalogue to good use.
Though on that fateful Friday, just before the 8pm sitting, water flooded the restaurant.
“Every staff member was in the kitchen with a chain gang of buckets,” he said, speaking for the first time since the ordeal.
“Once we cut the water off, white smoke began gushing through the air conditioner and we knew something was wrong.”
The cause was an electrical fire, which had started in the wall cavity and melted through the water pipes.
After evacuating the customers and staff, the entire restaurant went up in flames.
Thankfully nobody was injured.
“It took off in sections, first the booze, then the kitchen, then the vinyl.”
“It was devastating,” he said.
“Things were rough for a little while, but we’ve had a lot of community support.”
Colt Dining is currently being rebuilt and is estimated to take 18-months to complete.
The day after the blaze, Fallon and his business partner Paul Goddard forged ahead with a new plan — open two new venues within the next 12 months.
Work is already under way on the first: Vincenzo’s, a lively wine bar on The Esplanade around the corner from Colt, set to open late March.
A restaurant will follow next summer in the same complex.
“We found a new space (for Vincenzo’s) within two weeks of the original fire, and our gracious landlord has given us 12 months free rent,” he said.
“We also got a liquor licence in two weeks, which is unheard of.”
Vincenzo’s will be a minimalistic 70s-inspired neighbourhood bar serving snacks, pastas and larger shares with local wine and cocktails.
Early menu standouts include crumbed lamb bacon with pickled green tomatoes, scallops drenched in fermented red pepper butter, crumbed Nashville hot chicken swiped in Italian ranch sauce and a 30-day dry-aged T-bone steak.
“Vincenzo is the name of my business partner’s late grandfather,” he said.
“The offering will be neighbourhood-y, relaxed, playful and more drink heavy.”
“Opposed to what Colt was, as there really wasn’t any direction to the food, for a lack of a better term, we were doing modern Australia.”
Michael Kharas will remain as the head chef and will oversee all three venues once open.
Vincenzo’s, The Esplanade, Mornington, opening late March
Swanky Japanese restaurant firing up South Yarra
Chef Ash Hicks is used to feeding people in big spaces.
He’s been trusted with some of the city’s hottest restaurant launches, including super-sized CBD watering hole Garden State Hotel and St Kilda’s The Espy revamp.
Though Token will be a beast of its own.
The Darling Group executive chef, and directors Sam and Nicholas Seoud, will on Tuesday open the group’s largest restaurant to date — a 150-seater Japanese-inspired Izakaya in South Yarra.
“It’s our first stand-alone restaurant and a big move for us. Everyone in the group is really excited about doing something different from cafes,” he said.
While the cafe giant, behind The Kettle Black and Top Paddock, has South Melbourne Market’s mod-Asian eatery Bambu in its stable, Hicks says Token is different.
“Token is our biggest restaurant in capacity and investments, but it’s also the first new build. This has been built from the ground up at the old Saratoga site on Darling St and Toorak Rd,” said.
The ground-floor restaurant will feature a raw bar, serving fresh sashimi and sushi, with ex-Nobu chef Jun Sun turning up the heat in the main kitchen sizzling aged meats over a custom-built grill and coal fire oven.
“There’ll be lots of large-format proteins such as whole ducks and chickens,” Hicks said.
“The most exciting thing has been learning and working on the grill.”
Hicks expects wood-fired whole roasted ducks, chicken and wagyu to fly from the grill come opening week, though his ‘cacio e pepe’ spin on the classic mee noodles is sure to turn heads.
“This will have a toasted miso and brown butter emulsion with mushrooms and lots of kombu. It’ll be good fun.”
Token, 151 Toorak Rd, South Yarra, opening 23 January, tokenrestaurant.com.au
Newport’s new bakery rises to the occasion
A food-mad accountant who ignored his dad’s advice to “never become a baker” is behind Newport’s newest bakery.
Olivier Chan Chan opened Motte Bakery, a cosy cafe off Melbourne Rd, on Tuesday.
“This is my calling. I’ve been missing that connection with food and people,” he said.
Olivier swapped spreadsheets for sourdough starter during the pandemic, and after growing a cult following at inner-west farmers markets over the years, he hasn’t looked back.
At Motte, which indirectly translates to “blob of butter” in French, he bakes pastries, cinnamon buns, cookies and croissants daily.
Baking fresh bread is also on the cards once the cafe finds its feet.
“I’m going to start slow and focus on what I’m good at and what sells well at the market,” he said.
Cremorne’s Square One coffee beans are on the machine.
Olivier was born on the French-governed Reunion Island, off Madagascar’s coast.
He pays homage to his heritage in his bakes, and also draws influence from his time in Malaysia.
All cakes are made with gula Melaka, a palm sugar commonly used in South East Asian cooking, with pandan, coconut and root veg ube other star ingredients.
Motte’s crowd-favourite cinnamon buns are expected to sell like hot cakes.
Motte Bakery, 455 Melbourne Rd, Newport, motte.com.au.
Chef brings city tastes to Warrnambool with hip new restaurant
A Melbourne chef has made the ultimate homecoming by opening a “simple” and “seasonal” restaurant in the coastal town.
Feeling fancy? Live the suite life with these six AO food experiences
Level up your tennis eating and drinking game with these six fancy restaurants and foodie experiences.