Tiny Fitzroy charcoal grill bar Mono-XO sizzled its last skewer on Friday. It was a poignant night for rusted-on regulars, who were informed of the winding down but owner-chef Sam Stafford was far from unhappy. “I felt really good, to be honest,” he says. “I’ve been thinking about it for six months. I wasn’t passionate about it anymore.”

Mono-XO opened in the winter of 2019 with bar expert Joe Jones on deck for drinks. It was soon named among Good Food’s Top 40 hottest places, people, plates and places.

“But COVID really sucked life out of me,” says Stafford, who previously cooked at Momofuku Seiobo and Town Mouse. “The cost of things is so wildly different now. We went from printing money to really grinding to make cash.”

He points to their popular pork jowl skewer, served with sweet and sour plum. “Pork jowl was $6 a kilo and now it’s $21,” he says. “In that tiny little spot, there’s a limit on what you can charge people for food.”

Even so, 20-seat Mono-XO has closed on its own terms. “We weren’t losing money, it was a choice,” he says. “What made the restaurant work was me being there every day and changing things on the fly, and I don’t have the energy to do that now.”

It’s not goodbye, though. Stafford has the lease on excellent terms for another nine years, and he’s planning a daytime venture in the same spot. “I don’t want to work nights any more,” he says. “Scrubbing stuff at 4pm is a lot more palatable than doing it at 1am.”

After closing the restaurant last week, he went straight to Tasmania to play golf. “I am literally playing golf half the time now,” he says. “We wrapped it up well and I’m looking forward to a lifestyle change. Watch this space.”

Rear 191 Smith Street, Fitzroy