A Melbourne dining dynasty will be whole again this week, with prominent Italian chef-restaurateur Guy Grossi (Florentino, Grill, Ombra, Cellar Bar and Puttanesca) announcing the reopening of his late-night laneway bar, Arlechin, in the CBD.

The Euro-leaning wine and cocktail spot on Mornane Place, behind Grossi’s Bourke Street venues, shuttered during COVID. Relaunches in mid and late 2021 were short-lived due to a shortage of staff.

Grossi is keen to finally kick it back into gear. “A lot of people have been coming down the laneway and been disappointed that it’s closed, so hopefully we can get them back.”

He’s reinstating all the menu mainstays and serving them until 1am, so you can order the signature midnight spaghetti – a sort of puttanesca, but sans olives – as intended: at midnight. “People loved that sauce – we were selling jars of it through COVID,” says Grossi.

Also returning are the popular bolognese jaffles, plus you’ll find crumpets with baccala and pickled red onion, and golden, saffron-spiked risoni with bone marrow.

Grossi will oversee the menu of mostly small plates, which he says are geared to the late-night snacking crowd. But they can also be ordered en masse for a full-blown meal.

What’s decidedly new is bar venue manager Russell Branford (ex-Lake House Daylesford), who’s zhuzhed up the cocktail list. Translating the flavours of puttanesca pasta into a classic Martinez cocktail was “quite a process”, he says. The blend is chilli-infused gin, sweet red vermouth, house black-olive reduction and caper brine, topped off with tomato oil and a basil leaf. It’s a perfect pairing for the midnight spaghetti.

Branford has also spent a lot of time building out the back bar with spirits that are “exclusive and hard to get your hands on”, like Clase Azul’s complex San Luis mezcal, which comes in a sculptural matte-red bottle that retails for about $1000. He’s also worked closely with the liquor legends at South Melbourne’s Casa De Vinos to source rare whiskies, including some from Tasmanian distillery Sullivans Cove.

Arlechin first opened in 2017, in what was once a storage area out the back of Florentino. Its bunker-like interiors remain more or less unchanged, including that curved, cork-lined ceiling, centrepiece marble bartop and warm, alluring lighting.

Open Wed-Sat 5pm-1am from Friday, May 24.

Mornane Place, Melbourne, arlechin.com.au