Sydney restaurant power couple Ross and Sunny Lusted intend Marmelo to be a love letter to Melbourne when it opens on Thursday, December 5.

The 90-seat dining room and bar is the final piece in the revitalisation of a city block that has also recently birthed boutique hotel Melbourne Place and its restaurant and bar, Mid Air, 12 storeys above Russell Street.

Double-height windows frame a gritty laneway that runs down one side of Marmelo’s dining room, and Victorian produce stars on a menu cooked largely over charcoal or in a wood oven.

“I love Melbourne’s markets and I’m tapping into them along with smaller individual farmers. There is so much incredible produce in Victoria,” says Ross Lusted.

The restaurant is also a tribute to the Portuguese influences threaded through the countries in which the Lusteds lived and worked for a decade before they opened the three-hatted Bridge Room (now closed) and Woodcut in Sydney.

“I grew up in South Africa, where the influence of Portugal was always a part of our food,” says Ross Lusted. “Then we were lucky enough to see the impact of Portuguese food across the world. And I’ve also seen the influences and spices that then fed back from as far as India, Africa and the Americas, to make Portuguese food unique.”

Marmelo, which means quince in Portuguese, will bring a local spin to dishes from this relatively unsung cuisine in Melbourne.

A traditional croquette dish usually made with Portuguese bacalhao (salted cod), for example, will be made with local Murray cod and served sliced open, sluiced with hot mustard sauce.

“Marmelo is an idea I have been thinking about for years,” he says. “I originally intended to open it in Sydney but I am so glad we are in Melbourne. The whole concept has become more elevated, which feels exactly right for this city.”

On Thursday, the Lusteds will also open Mr Mills, Marmelo’s subterranean sibling, a more casual bar and late-night supper club.

Classic Iberian starters such as swordfish in olive oil with grilled peppers will sit alongside more substantial dishes, including mussels escabeche with pickled carrots, and fillet steak with whipped anchovy, potato crisps and fried egg. A bergamot and green apple margarita, and rhubarb and bay leaf Americano are among the cocktails on offer.

“Ross and I love the vibrancy of Melbourne and all of its culinary offerings, so it is an honour to be welcomed into the local dining community,” says Sunny Lusted. “We can’t wait to share our take on the food of the Iberian peninsula.”

Insider’s guide to Marmelo

What to eat

After an appetite-prompting starter of salted Murray cod croquette ($12) with a sharp mustard sauce, shoot straight for the elevated take on Portugal’s best-known dish: charcoal chook. Marmelo’s version is made with richly flavoured Aurum Poultry cockerel, char-grilled with “African” spices and served with fried potatoes ($55).

What to drink

A two-pronged approach is best. Enter Mr Mills under the neon sign in the rear laneway and sit up at the bar for a tomato and anchovy oil martini, then head up the internal stairs to the 28-seat Bar Marmelo for a Ginjinha (ginja for short), a Portuguese liqueur enjoyed as both aperitif and digestif. You can also have the liqueur in dessert form poured over cherries in tiny chocolate cups.

Where to sit

It’s possible to stroll into Marmelo where the Russell Street-facing bar does not require bookings. The round table in the front window will be the hottest pozzie here, where, if you sit sipping your ginja, a new level of love for this now humming pocket of the city will be born. If you are fully committing to a big night out, bring seven friends and sit at the table in front of the kitchen, where you can see Lusted and his charcoal flames in action.

What’s the vibe

Mitchell & Eades is the interior design studio, and they have mixed old-school azulejos (traditional hand-painted tiles) and a still life of quinces with a striking chartreuse metal staircase and a snaking light fixture running the length of the restaurant. These are set against a backdrop of huge windows overlooking a wheelie bin-strewn laneway framed in a way that makes you proud to be a Melburnian.

Marmelo is open Tue-Sat noon-late from December 5.

Mr Mills is open Tue-Thu 5pm-late, Fri-Sat 4pm-late from December 5.

Ground floor, 130 Russell Street, Melbourne, marmelorestaurant.com.au