Orlo Collingwood: New Greek restaurant by George Calombaris protégé

Since the fall of George Calombaris’s restaurant empire, the city has arguably been without a decent Greek eatery— until now.

Get him to the Greek! Chef Alex Xinis’s famous flatbread will be a feature of his first bricks and mortar venture; Orlo, which opens in Collingwood in March. Picture: Jake Nowakowski.

Pass the pita!

If you haven’t tried chef-about-town Alex Xinis’s famous flatbreads yet, you’ll soon get your serve at his new Collingwood restaurant.

He’s opening Orlo; a new Greek eatery with the help of Young’s Wine Rooms’ James Klapanis in March.

“I’m pretty stoked. It’s going to be the first project that I’m involved in to this extent,” he said.

“I always had that dream to open my own restaurant... and I’m at that stage of my career and life where I’m ready for it — I’m really excited”.

The 150-seater on Oxford St, which runs parallel to Smith St, has four areas to indulge from a heaving street-level front bar, dining room, courtyard and mezzanine.

Xinis, a George Calombaris protégé, hopes Orlo fills Melbourne’s Greek restaurant void by cooking authentic eats with a modern spin.

“Orlo’s menu will be veg-forward but there’ll be a spattering of seafood and meat,” he said.

“We’ll have those flatbreads as a mezze for starters, as well as hand rolled leek pies, whole-roasted cauliflowers and grilled leeks with a simple dressing.”

Xinis also puts his spin on biscuit tin fave, the Iced Vovo, with his Riced Vovo made with rice cream, burnt marshmallow and raspberries.

Head chef Yianni Papanatsios will be on the pots and pans, fresh from an Athens stint.

Melbourne fell in love with Xinis’s Greek cooking (and those pitas) through his lockdown meal pack Almost Like Yiayias.

He’s retired Yiayias to lack of demand, and will continue to consult at CBD rooftop bar Fable and work at Camberwell’s Young’s Wine Rooms while getting Orlo off the ground.

Orlo, 44 Oxford St, Collingwood, orlo.com.au

Hold the booze, I’m alch-free

Homegrown’s Michael Bascetta and T.I.N.A.’s Imogen Hayes are appearing at Picolo — the first major no and low alch drinks festival. Picture: David Geraghty

Some may say it’s ambitious (or brave) to run a drinks festival centered around no or low booze.

But Dan Sims loves a challenge.

The founder of events company REVEL, behind Pinot Palooza and MOULD Cheese festivals, will launch Picolo, Australia’s first low and no alcohol drinks festival in Melbourne next week.

More than one-third of the 35 involved drinks producers are local, including Home Grown, T.I.N.A, Four Pillars, Monday Distillery and The Everleigh Bottling Co.

“There’s no denying the growth in this category is skyrocketing and never before has there been a more exciting and diverse range of drinks across all categories in the market,” he said.

Sims has been thinking about launching the festival for the last year, but said only now was Melbourne ready for this.

“Anecdotally more people request (non-alch) drinks. There is a real movement around being sober-curious. I think if the drinks are delicious, lovely and refreshing, then that’s what it should be about.”

A mix of beer, wine, spirit alternative producers will be pouring their creations at the one-day festival across two sessions.

Home Grown co-founder Michael Bascetta said the zero-alcohol segment of his drinks label was just as popular as the real deal.

“Our non-alcoholic drink is in our top couple of products,” he said.

“We are seeing lot of interest. (Zero-booze) drinks are here to stay and we believe the future of drinking is in that space.”

Home Grown is also working on its second alcohol-free drink, to be released in the first half of 2023.

Picolo Drinks Festival, February 11, The Timber Yard, Port Melbourne. Tickets: $35+BF

picolodrinks.com