Hot on the heels of the successful reboot of Kings Cross stalwart Piccolo Bar, entrepreneurial hospo operator David Spanton has turned his attention to another icon of the area.

On Friday, February 24, he opened Vermuteria, in the former Cafe Hernandez site on Kings Cross Road.

Last year Good Food reported that Spanton had snapped up the building where the Hernandez family roasted and sold their eponymous coffee for 40 years.

The building featured in many films and TV series. Its new owner-operator has crafted a venue that cleverly feels like it already has a storied history.

"We left a few rough edges," Spanton says of designer Michael Delany's work recrafting the shopfront space. "We wanted people to feel it has been there a long time."

Vermuteria squeezes plenty into a tight space. An old-school European aperitif wine bar with a big focus on vermouth and sherry, it's a wine bar with a clever food menu.

They've also found space for a small deli section where you can grab takeaway olives, pickles or coffee (Hernandez, of course). Spanton, who has interests in media and venues, has even found room to stock some of his favourite drinks books to sell.

He's banking on vermouth – which boomed in the 1970s – staging a serious comeback. "People are used to drinking it in martinis and negronis," he says. "We want to showcase it, and not just in cocktails."

Spanton says he is excited to offer two different vermouth blends direct from barrels positioned directly above the bar. "Guests can choose from our 'Euro sweet rosso blend' and the 'Aussie pinot noir vermouth' with the semi-dry blanco blend straight from the tap."

The food menu is designed to be simple enough to be prepared by bar staff rather than a chef. It includes an LP's chorizo hot dog, Ortiz anchovies, razor clams, gildas and cold plates of mortadella and Penny's cheese.

One thing you won't be able to buy at Vermuteria is the very thing the site is famous for: an espresso or flat white.

"If you want a coffee, you can buy an espresso martini," Spanton says.

Open Thu-Sat 4pm-midnight.

60 Kings Cross Road, King Cross, vermuteria.com.au