Connection, community and collaboration are the foundations of new Mornington destination Colt Dining, the first restaurant from chef Matti Fallon, who previously cooked at now-closed Scandi wine bar Du Nord, and earned a hat for Byron Bay restaurant St Elmo.

The food is relaxed and contemporary, with dishes cooked over fire. “It’s produce and nature-forward,” says Fallon. “That aligns with being on the Mornington Peninsula, which is a mecca for food now.” The 65-seat upstairs restaurant has a 20-seat deck with Port Phillip Bay views.

“We’ll do everything wild and line-caught; the team just went squidding from the pier in Mornington.”

Matti Fallon, owner chef at Colt Dining

Fallon’s brother Andrew has recently acquired a commercial fishing licence. Rather than heading to the market, Fallon will cook fish supplied direct from his brother’s boat. “We’ll do everything wild and line-caught; the team just went squidding from the pier in Mornington.”

The brothers’ parents have extensive garden plots and orchards in nearby Langwarrin. “We’ve put in herbs and tomato vines for summer, there are passionfruit and a second flush of figs coming through, apricots, peaches and grapes coming in.” Fallon is a keen forager. “I live on the beach in Mornington and my 20-minute walk to work is a 20-minute foraging path of beach herbs.”

If that sounds somewhat idyllic, there’s a reason Fallon is keeping things calm and low-key. In 2019, trouble struck as he was on the verge of launching a restaurant that celebrated nostalgic suburban Chinese food.

“We had an investor dinner, I was halfway through calling mains and I had a tunnel vision situation,” he says. “I turned to the guy next to me and said I didn’t feel too good. He couldn’t understand what I was saying. I blacked out, had a seizure.”

Fallon discovered he had a congenital condition that caused a brain bleed. Three surgeries later, Fallon was in recovery in Byron Bay but had developed epilepsy. His health situation, and the fact that his wife was pregnant with twins, prompted a return to the Mornington Peninsula, where he grew up.

It’s been a long road. I meditate and do yoga, keep it nice and chill,” he says. “It’s serendipitous to be back home and have help with the business. It’s a beautiful comeback story, returning to my roots. There’s a silver lining to everything.”

Even so, can restaurant life ever be “nice and chill”? “The amount of downtime I spent in recovery, I could not think of anything [I wanted] more than to open a restaurant,” he says. “The situation changed my perspective on what I want to cook, though: I want to work with farmers, be super authentic to who I am.”

Dishes include kelp-wrapped steamed fish, roasted celeriac with beach herbs, and coal-fired mushrooms with pumpkin seed miso.

Fallon will lean on his team, including beverage manager Zac Abbott, who is running a mostly low-intervention wine list peppered with peninsula icons. Key cocktails include a rhubarb gimlet with house-made lemon curd. Other staff have been lured from upscale local restaurants Tedesca Osteria, Pt. Leo Estate and Alba.

“Colt” is a reference to Fallon’s grandfather, racehorse trainer Jack McGreal, who moved from New Zealand in the 1970s and became a key figure in Victorian racing. “He came with nothing in his pocket and made quite the empire,” says Fallon. “He made me the man I am today.”

Fallon’s business partners are entertainment company The Happy Horsemen, and music is a key part of the offer. As befits the ’70s fitout, it’s vinyl only. “We have 5000 records,” says Fallon. “I’m a massive music nerd and there’ll be DJs on weekends. We’re using the tagline ‘fire and funk’ – everything is cooked over fire and the music will be kind of funky.”

Open Wed-Thu 6pm-late, Fri-Sat noon-late, Sun noon-3pm from October 7.

9A Main Street, Mornington, coltdining.com