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A couple who have worked in some of Melbourne’s favourite wine bars are ready to show off their own addition to the city’s line-up with Suze, tucked on a leafy backstreet in Fitzroy North. Chef Steve Harry (ex-Napier Quarter, Auterra) and restaurant manager Giulia Giorgetti (ex-Marion) will throw open the doors on March 13 for aperitivo-ready snacks, house-made pasta and more.

While they’re serious about quality, the pair want Suze to be casual and charming, inspired in part by Giorgetti’s love of Italian neighbourhood bars and their aperitivo culture, which encourages “being social without too much financial commitment”.

“You can go out every day of the week for an hour with a friend, [have] some focaccia with peppers and anchovies, a couple of glasses and go home,” she says.

Although you’ll always find aperitivo-friendly snacks, focaccia and a couple of house-made pastas on the menu, it’s not an Italian restaurant. Harry’s food reflects his story and Melbourne’s many culinary influences.

His experience in Japanese restaurants shows in raw fish with Tasmanian wasabi, and he gives a classic Continental dish of grilled flounder the hibachi treatment. Gougeres filled with stout and Bay of Fires cheddar custard are a delicious inevitability given Harry’s fascination with choux pastry (they’re also a fan favourite from his Napier Quarter days). Grapefruit sorbet is finished with bittersweet Suze, the vibrant yellow French aperitif that’s the venue’s namesake.

The couple are driven by care and craftsmanship, even buying their own flour mill from Bee Sustainable in Brunswick East so they can grind biodynamic grains each day for Suze’s bread and pasta.

“Once you have this leisure of making something so fresh in-house, you can’t go back,” says Harry.

He also makes ricotta each day using St David Dairy milk, and the jars of preserves lining the shelves aren’t just for show. Black walnuts are destined for cheese plates, and preserved lemons bring a bright note to the house martini. Vegetables come from small-scale local farms, including Somerset Heritage Produce and Dog Creek Growers.

Giorgetti’s drinks list includes favourite aperitivo cocktails such as spritzes, plus European and Australian vermouths (a special interest of hers). Her sommelier cred shows in a succinct list with a preference for light styles, especially whites from Italy, France and Australia, whether minerally chenin blanc or a “fun” gruner veltliner. The few premium wines are poured in smaller serves to make exploration affordable.

Hidden on a quiet backstreet, the two-storey corner building is exactly what the pair envisioned. “People find us because they want to,” says Giorgetti.

Formerly home to wine bar One Trick Pony (which closed in late 2024), the space is modern and moody with a palette of soft greys, slate and wood. Books, wine bottles, artwork and fresh flowers add character. Split over two levels, it seats 20 downstairs, with more outside on the footpath, and 20 upstairs beside the open kitchen.

Giorgetti and Harry hope that, just as in Italy, Suze becomes a bar that locals visit multiple times a week.

Lunch Saturday & Sunday, dinner Wednesday-Sunday from March 13

6 Newry Street, Fitzroy North, suzefitzroy.com