Popular city pub The Crafty Pint is closing for major renovations in September
This inner-city brew house is closing its doors this month and won’t reopen until summer as part of a major reno.
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A popular inner-city microbrewery is closing its doors this spring for a major renovation.
The Crafty Squire, on Russell and Little Collins St, will pour its last pint on Monday September 9 and is expected to unveil the first stage of the works this summer.
The three-level eating and drinking mecca is one year shy of celebrating a decade on the iconic CBD corner, after replacing The Portland Hotel in 2015.
In a statement to the Herald Sun, The Crafty Squire said an “exciting change” was coming to the Australian Venue Co brewery.
“A new concept will transform the pub into a revitalised, multi-level drinking and dining destination that embraces its heritage in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD,” the statement read.
“Loyal regulars and long-time customers can expect more of what they love from this iconic Melbourne pub, alongside some epic new experiences and spaces. The first stage of the renovation is set to be unveiled this summer.”
The Crafty Squire, 127 Russell Street, Melbourne
‘Tasty s**t only’: British inspired brasserie opens in city
There’s one rule when it comes to food and drink at Reed House — tasty shit only.
Hospo pros Mark Hannell and Rebecca Baker will open their new 80-seater restaurant near Caretakers Cottage in the city this Tuesday.
Chef Hannell (formerly Ottolenghi, Bar Liberty and Three Blue Ducks) wants to give Melburnians a taste of his British upbringing alongside a mix of modern Aussie flavours, plus a solid wine list and Queens of the Stone Age soundtrack.
“We wanted to do something that resembles dinner at our house,” he told Kitchen Confidential.
“This space was originally was a house … and was designed by architect Joseph Reed, and we always wanted the restaurant’s name to have ‘house’ in it — so we went with Reed House”.
Expect steaks, roast chicken drizzled in bread sauce and saltbush za’atar, tahini smothered cauliflower with blood oranges and hazelnuts and the UK classic Scotch eggs.
Hannell’s rarebit crumpets are also an ode to the London’s famed cult-snack at St John restaurant.
“Instead of toast, we’ll use a sourdough crumpet we make ourselves — they are delicious,” he said.
Baker (ex-Nopi in London, Byron Bay’s Oma) has come on as venue manager and will lead the front of house team.
She’s also curated the initial wine and cocktail lists, filled with Aussie and European pours.
“Mark and I basically picked the wines we like to drink and what will go for the food,” she said.
“Expect a lot of Aussie and minimal interventional drops, as well as classic, international wines. We’re not sticking to one region.”
Reed House won’t take it too seriously, with a casual approach to both cooking and service.
“While we want to be knowledgeable and attentive, it’ll be a relatively casual experience,” Baker said.
“That would be the catchcry across all aspects of business: comfortable with a warm style of service. Mark’s food leans that way. It’s textural, playful, quite joyful and not too serious.”
Reed House, 130 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. Opening September 3, 2024.
Hot new Mexican joint fires up in Southbank
A fiery new Mexican joint has landed in Southbank.
Hacienda Cocina Mexican moved into the riverside restaurant and retail hub last fortnight, helmed by former Tetsuya’s chef Ross McCombe.
The head chef, who co-owns a Michelin-named tacqueria in Mexico City, prides himself on making all tortillas and tostadas in-house using an ancient nixtamalization process.
“The first time I went to Mexico was 2015 and I moved to live there in 2017, where I started working with Jorge Vallejo at Quintonil,” he said.
“And that’s where I really got stuck into what Mexico and its food means.”
Begin with a procession of bite-sized snacks such as seedy salsa Sikil Pak, made with macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, burnt tomato dip, and habanero, or the Tepache Pickle mix of pickled pineapple, carrot, cabbage and dried shrimp.
The move onto a selection of meat or veg loaded tacos, tostadas topped with raw seafood, before tucking into larger plates such as twice-cooked pork, beef short ribs and segueza (a mole made with grilled Mulloway fish).
The restaurant, run by Highgate One Group’s Marc Brown and Anthony Caruso, also owns Osteria 20 in Hawthorn and Richmond’s Ella.
Wash everything down with agave-spiked cocktails and a selection of Mexican beer.
The 80-seater restaurant also runs as a cafe by day, serving coffee and breakfast bites to-go.
Hacienda Cocina Mexican, 28/3 Southgate Ave, Southbank, open daily.
Flour Child rolls out ‘bigger and better’ pizza palace in Richmond
Flour Child is finally opening its second restaurant in Richmond after a year in the pipeline.
Unlike the Italian eatery and cocktail bar’s St Kilda location, the Church St venue will be open for lunch and dinner year-round; slinging paninis, pastas and slices of its famed Roman-style pinsa romana pizzas.
“The main difference is the dough – it’s a mix of flours, not just one,” executive chef Alessandro Bellomunno said.
“We use rice, soy and wheat, which not only adds flavour to the dough but is also much lighter as it has less gluten.
“It looks and tastes different (to traditional pizzas). A lot of people love them so much they order another one.”
The Church St restaurant is “bigger and better” than its St Kilda digs, packing in 50 more seats.
Bellomunno said that outside of lunch, both restaurants would share the same menu, which includes a bouncin’ burrata bar boasting five different varieties.
St Kilda’s popular pizza, pasta and pesto masterclasses will also launch in Richmond soon.
Flour Child is one of the many venues overseen by hospo pro Simon Kouba. He is involved, with a number of other stakeholders, in The Valiant, il Mercato Centrale and Left Bank.
“I’m excited, it’s been a long time coming,” Bellomunno said.
Flour Child, Level 1/432 Church St, Richmond
How Brunetti veteran is surviving hospitality crisis
Melbourne’s hospitality industry may be on a knife’s edge, but this seasoned cafe veteran knows the hard times will soon pass.
Gianni Formica has spent forty years behind the coffee machine; running cafes and restaurants across town.
Now at 77, the spritely Italian character is showing no signs of slowing down, helping guide Carlton’s Brunetti Classico through the cost of living crisis as its store manager.
“This really is the perfect storm,” he told the Herald Sun.
“Business is suffering a bit, especially after Covid when the prices of everything went up.”
Gianni, who ran Toorak’s Vanni’s Cafe Italiano before moving to Knox City in 1999, said the endless restaurant closures and sky-high cost hikes was part of the game and would shift soon.
“This is a cycle. As soon as interest rates go up, the first thing people cut is coffee or breakfast in the morning, or pizza with the family,” he said.
“When I first opened in Knox in 1999, things were very very bad. But slowly, the economy improved and people had more money to spend.”
“As soon as (interest rates) go down, there’ll be money in the pockets and people will have money to spend in restaurants and enjoy themselves.”
The loveable Lygon Street character has been working at Brunetti since the early 2000s.
He was 62, and wanted a break from running his own cafe, so instead asked the owners for a job with little responsibility.
“I told them I’d been the boss since I was 24 and I didn’t want any particular responsibility,” he said.
“So I asked to be a barista and they put me on.” One year later and he was asked to be store manager — a gig he’s worked in ever since and is just shy of clocking up 20-years.
When asked what had changed with Brunetti as a business, and Lygon Street, over the years, Formica said the demographic and bottom line.
“There were more Italians in the early days, lots of first and second generation Italians,” he said.
“Now we attract customers from all different backgrounds and across the world.”
As for the profit margin?
“The slice of meat is very thin. People are very committed to their other expenses and it’s been very hard for everyone. But for Brunetti, we have a strong customer base and good numbers, and are in a good position.”
This success is largely pinned to Brunetti moving back to its original Lygon St home, after a stint on Faraday St, in 2012.
“To me, this is the busiest part of Carlton, where we are. During the rest of the week, the street is very quiet, aside from Saturday nights and Sundays.”
“The segment between Faraday and Elgin is more alive because of the variety of businesses. There aren’t just restaurants here. We have book shops, cinemas, fashion stores and more … and that attracts more people.”
And on the eve of his 78th birthday, Formica declared he wouldn’t be retiring anytime soon.
“There are only two reasons I’ll retire. The first is my health, and the second would be if I don’t feel anything for the company. When I start to feel like a decoration, I will, but I don’t feel like that now.”
Brunetti Classico, 380 Lygon St, Carlton
Carlton icon closes for renovations
Another Carlton stalwart has closed its doors — but it won’t be forever.
D. O. C Espresso served its last latte on Sunday ahead of a month-long renovation.
The works are the first in the cafe’s two-decade run on Lygon Street.
Group director Michael Costanzo said the renovation would transform the cafe to an all-day diner serving lunch through to dinner.
“Our key focus areas in this renovation are the kitchen and the bar, which we’ve structured to support our new concept menus,” he said.
“Expect an elevated, yet approachable take on contemporary Italian dining made with old-school Italian passion.”
In the meantime, coffee and pastries will be served at neighbouring D. O. C Delicatessen from 8am to 6pm.
The closure comes as fellow Carlton deli, King and Godfree, revealed it was also closing for renovations in late July.
D. O. C Espresso is slated to reopen late October 2024.
Wine palace calls first drinks in city after two year wait
Thirsty Melburnians can finally get a taste of long-awaited wine restaurant Circl.
Star sommelier Xavier Vigier (Ten Minutes By Tractor) and executive chef Elias Salomonsson (Vue Group, Scott Pickett Group) on Friday popped the cork on their debut venue that’s been two years in the making.
Circl boasts more than 150 drops by the glass and 1500 bottles from a biblical length wine list — and one of Australia’s largest champagne selections — that’s taken two years to build.
Cost for wine by the glass start at $17 and range up to $220 for rare red burgundy, while bottles range from $60 to an eye-watering $8000.
Vigier said he was excited to see his pet project come to life.
“I feel great for the community, as everyone has been waiting for this to open,” Vigier said.
“There’s nothing like this in Melbourne. I’m glad for the owners … and glad for the team, who have been very patient.”
Circl will give wine obsessives the chance to sip hard to find pours by the glass — with an extremely rare, rotating 75ml nip available weekly for punters to try.
Each month showcases a different region, with September highlighting Meursault, October; Aussie back-vintage icons, grower champagne in November and French pinot noir in December.
These may include some of the world’s most expensive wines from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, a 2001 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay.
“We will have one of the most comprehensive wine lists in Australia,” Vigier said.
“From a wine perspective, we are a wine place … but we are a restaurant and mostly operating as a restaurant, not a wine bar. You can’t have great wine without food.”
The two-storey space, in the old Edwards and Co hair salon, will seat diners across both levels, with an impressive wine cellar.
On the food front, expect a European inspired menu with nods to Salomonsson’s Swedish heritage.
Snacks and small plates may include rock oysters, goats cheese eclairs, smoked eel tarts and tuna crudo, while Blackmore wagyu tri-tip steak or duck lacquered in Davidson plum sauce are bound to satisfy larger appetites.
Expert cheesemonger Victor Persinette-Gautrez from South Melbourne Market’s K-Sein Fromagerie has curated an artisanal cheeses offering from here and abroad, and there’ll also be an on-call caviar service.
Circl, 22 Punch Lane, Melbourne, opening this Friday.
Top chef leads city’s new rooftop restaurant at Melbourne Place
Another high-profile chef is moving into the city’s new boutique hotel Melbourne Place.
Chef Nick Deligiannis (Audrey’s in Sorrento) will lead the kitchen at rooftop restaurant Mid-Air when it opens this October.
The sky-high watering hole joins restaurant Marmello by Sydney chefs Ross and Sunny Lusted.
The former Scott Pickett Group chef will lean on his Greek heritage to craft the all-day offering — which includes breakfast from 6.30am on weekdays and lavish weekend brunches.
As for lunches and dinners, expect a delicious line up of small bites such as lobster doughnuts filled with taramasalata and trout roe, horseradish-dusted ocean trout crumpets and marinated golden peppers doused in hot honey, feta and herbs.
The rooftop bar lives on level 12 of the new Russel Street development, located next door to famed city wine bar Embla and opposite QT Hotels.
Melbourne Place, 130 Russell Street, Melbourne, opening October 2024.
Pretend you’re in Europe with this cult Balkans street food
A snag in bread may be a dinky di Aussie snack, but Goran Kapetanovic is going one better with his unique Balkans street food.
The Cevapi (said, che-var-pee) is flame-kissed flatbread stuffed with skinless beef sausages.
Later this month he’ll be slinging the regional sanger at his new shop, The Cevapi Project, at the Queen Victoria Market.
“The cevapi originated in the Middle East, then moved into the Balkans in the early 1900s and was traditionally sold at Sunday markets on a stick,” he said.
“From 1964, in my family, little sausages were cooked and put in an artisan bread (somun).”
Kapetanovic, who helmed North Melbourne’s Bela Bistro and No. 9 Pizzeria, said he was excited to bring his take on the European snack Down Under.
Everything at The Cevapi Project will be made in-house including those “skinless” beef sausages, shaped and left to set in a fridge overnight, to avoid casing.
Balkan cheese, or kajmak, is similar to cream cheese and spread like butter over the somun. There’ll also be an onion side dish and liquid yoghurt drink, which Kapetanovic says is refreshingly “set like Greek yoghurt blended with milk”.
The menu will be short, slinging two sizes of cevapi (10 sausages for adults, five for kids) with sides, traditional drinks, and beer.
While Kapetanovic admits he isn’t the first to bring the cevapi to Melbourne, with other Balkans restaurants spruiking the snack, he said his bread will be unlike anything in town.
“The trick with the bread is in the oven and the way it’s made,” he said.
“You’re putting the somun in a 500C oven and it blows up in 90 seconds.”
The Cevapi Project will be open market hours, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 10pm.
The Cevapi Project, Queen Victoria Market, 15 Dhanga Djeembana Walk, Melbourne
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