Father-daughter duo open Freda's Bistro in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

February 23, 2022

Father and daughter team Graham and Ruby Haupt hope their restaurant becomes a weekly favourite for Fitzroy locals.Kit Edwards

Ruby Haupt hasn't even celebrated her 25th birthday, but she's dead-set on how she wants to run her first restaurant.

The chef opened Freda's Bistro as a casual, family-oriented venue in Fitzroy with her father, Graham Haupt, on February 11, after working at upmarket Italian restaurant Rosetta and running her own catering business during lockdown.

"I've always wanted to do my own thing because I think I have more to offer than just being a chef," she says.

The restaurant fit-out channels a cosy bistro.Kit Edwards

Named after Ruby's grandmother, Freda's offers a casual European menu with a French and Italian skew, serving several pastas that draw on Ruby's time in Rosetta's kitchen plus steak tartare with jalapeno and house-made crisps, and a dessert of strawberry roulade. Wines are a 50-50 split of European and Australian.

"We didn't want to corner ourselves. We wanted freedom in what we cook," she says. Including "bistro" in the name is more about the atmosphere, she adds, a place where people can come several times a week, not once every six months.

She'll be keeping pace by changing the menu often, perhaps switching this week's flourless chocolate cake with morello cherries (her mum's recipe) for another homely dessert, or subbing deep-pink tuna crudo and salsa verde for another seafood starter.

Grilled chicken with preserved lemon, olive and 'nduja.Kit Edwards

Haupt junior and senior signed a lease on the former burger shop in October and got to work, piecing together the look day by day. The result is a unified whole in tones of moss green and black, with Mark Douglass lights and 50 seats that offer a reprieve from the crowds of Brunswick Street.

There are plans for a chef's table, located just a metre from the kitchen, and a bakery on weekend mornings, selling homely cakes and South African sweets in honour of Freda. Coffee will come from an unusual looking coffee station with a great story behind it.

Built for those who are able-bodied and not, the cart was designed by Graham Haupt's business Red Tops as a way to promote employment of those in wheelchairs. Ruby says it's a simple design that can work in venues of all kinds and means owners are able to employ people of all abilities.