Chapel St chaos as fire rips through Windsor restaurant

Trams along Chapel St have resumed after a blaze ripped through a newly-opened inner-city restaurant this afternoon, with nearby workers evacuated during the busy lunch rush.

Black smoke billows from the source of the fire at a Windsor restaurant. Picture: Twitter/ Hugh Gurney

Trams along Chapel St have resumed after a blaze ripped through an inner-city restaurant this afternoon.

Firefighters found the back of the second-storey restaurant, believed to be newly-opened Japanese fusion tapas bar Golden Gai, well-alight shortly after 1.15pm.

The blaze at the rear of the business, which backs onto Mechanics Lane, was brought under control within 20 minutes, the MFB said.

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Big Fire in Windsor near Chapel and High St. Stay safe all. pic.twitter.com/TAoW8ckd5x

— hugh gurney (@hughgurney) January 21, 2019

#fire on #Prahran #chapelstreet #melbourne #mfb pic.twitter.com/4RuV7ymTUr

— aaron dunn (@realaarondunn) January 21, 2019

Route 78 trams have resumed after not running between stops 42 and 50.

Tusk cafe owner Francis Placentino, just down the road from the blaze, said the fire was at recently-opened restaurant Golden Gai.

“All we saw is what most people saw, which the fire or smoke,” he told the Herald Sun.

“That place has only been open for a month.

“The street’s blocked, so there is no traffic going through.”

Mr Placentino said the restaurant wasn’t open when the fire broke out.

Golden Gai is a Japanese fusion tapas bar and restaurant, which opened in late December.

Another nearby worker, Rose Montgomery from Grill’d Windsor, said her store was evacuated for up to 45 minutes.

“From where the fire was, I’m pretty sure it was Golden Gai.”

“The fire was on a back balcony or something.”

The MFB said no one appeared to be inside the building when the fire started and that no one was hurt.

The cause of the blaze remains unknown.

Route 78 trams have resumed following the earlier disruption. Delays may still occur as we restore normal frequency.

— Yarra Trams (@yarratrams) January 21, 2019

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