Why Max Gawn’s new restaurant opening is delayed

Dees premiership captain Max Gawn’s new restaurant was set to open in March, but things haven’t gone to plan.

The opening of Dees star Max Gawn’s new Hawthorn restaurant and bar, Motor Wine, has been pushed back.

Last November the premiership captain revealed he was converting a heritage-listed Glenferrie Rd garage into a wine bar.

The venue was tipped to open in March, but global building supply shortages has pushed back the opening until further notice.

No new opening date has been confirmed.

This is Gawn’s second hospo venture with partners Craig Tate, Richard Donovan and former Dees player Matt Jones. He also owns Camberwell’s East End wine bar.

The opening of Max Gawn’s new Hawthorn East restaurant has hit a snag. Picture: Alex Coppel

Breakfast beer

The flavours in Chris Farmer’s new beer shouldn’t work together, but they do.

The Get up and Go fruit sour is “breakfast in a glass”, flavoured with mango, banana, vanilla, coffee, spirulina and toasted granola.

“With everything that’s gone in it, it tastes better than it should,” Farmer said.

“It’s not like we’re putting fish in beer. It’s ingredients that are sweet and tasty.”

Chris Farmer of Banks Brewing has created a Get Up and Go kettle sour beer that tastes like coffee, smoothie, fruit salad, cereal and shake at once. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Banks Brewing made the limited release sour for this year’s Great Australasian Beer Spectacular, which returns to Melbourne this weekend.

Farmer, who owns the Seaford brewery with wife Penny, said the breakfast beer was inspired by their breakfast ritual.

“I have coffee every day and my wife has juice, so that’s where that came from,” he said.

“It won’t be (a beer) for everyone. People will love it, and like with every beer, others will hate it.

“You can kind of put anything in a beer with the right volumes and find a way to make it work, but it won’t always please everyone. But that’s beer and what makes it exciting.”

Farmer will make 7500L for the festival, and will also sell the drop at his taprooms.

The annual beer fest celebrates the best of Aussie and Kiwi brews in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland in May.

GABS Melbourne, May 27-29, Royal Exhibition Building, gabsfestival.com

Anchovy’s Thi Le.

Anchovy reborn

Richmond’s beloved Vietnamese restaurant Anchovy is closing its doors – but it’s not all bad news.

Owners Thi Le and Jia-Yen Lee are moving their delicious. 100 restaurant to a more intimate space in June, making way for a new Laotian restaurant at the Bridge Rd site.

The duo reopened Anchovy post-lockdown with a set menu in 2020, but the explorative Vietnamese offering wasn’t suited to the site and prompted a shift in direction.

During lockdown Anchovy served takeaway Laotian cuisine, which ignited the idea to create a permanent a la carte offering from late June.

The currently unnamed space will be open for dinner Thursday to Saturday and Monday, and Sunday lunch.

Don’t worry, their cult sandwich shop, Ca Com Banh Mi Bar, will remain next door.

338 Bridge Rd, Richmond

Botswana Butchery opens in the CBD on Tuesday.

Open season

• New Zealand steakhouse Botswana Butchery opens in the CBD Tuesday.

Off the back of its Sydney launch, the 300-seater is firing up a smorgasbord of meat, game and seafood across three dining rooms and two terraces.

Angel Fernandez (New York City’s Dante) builds a lunch and dinner offering around a raw bar and woodfire grill, with highlights including Blackmore’s wagyu, grass-fed Cape Grim Select and Ranger’s Valley 1.6kg Tomahawk.

Botswana Butchery, 66 Flinders Lane, City

Melbourne publican Liam Ganley has opened the new-look Bay Hotel. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

• Publican Liam Ganley has served his first pint at the reborn Mornington icon Bay Hotel, which opened last Wednesday. Ganley, who runs Prahran steakhouse Angus and Bon, converted the former nightspot into a gastropub, which will also have live music.

Bay Hotel, 62 Main St, Mornington

Taryn Reid with Italian savoury spaghetti doughnuts from Pasta Face at Queen Victoria Market. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Hole in one

Get your laughing gear around as many jam-filled, cinnamon-sprinkled and sugar-dusted creations as you can at this year’s Donut Festival at the Queen Victoria Market next weekend.

The free event will see market-famous American Doughnut Kitchen, Bistro Morgan, OMG Decadent Donuts, Shot Stop, Churro Kitchen and St Gerry’s sling golden-fried goodies across two days. Make sure you try Pasta Face’s left-of-field savoury spaghetti doughnut.

Donut Festival, Queen Victoria Market, June 4-5, 9am-4pm.

Rising Festival returns to Melbourne this June.

Rising again

The city’s hot new festival RISING has been resurrected after two turbulent years, with David Moyle (Franklin, Long Song) in charge of all things food. Former Oakridge and future food system chefs Jo Barrett and Matt Stone will join Moyle at the festival’s pop-up glasshouse restaurant, The Lighthouse, at Sidney Myer Music Bowl for the 12-day event.

Think a multi-course dining experience using ferments, seafood, fresh veg and a wood-fired rotisserie. Blackhearts & Sparrows founder Jess Ghaie has curated a unique matched wine list from a selection of underground producers.

RISING, June 1-12