NewsBite

Advertisement

This ambitious Carlton North fine diner is loosening things up with its new front bar

Walk-ins, Indian street snacks and an open door: it’s an all-new era at Carlton North fine-diner Enter Via Laundry.

Emma Breheny
Emma Breheny

Tangy, crunchy and spicy, the street snacks known as chaat are loved in India by everyone from labourers to lawyers. At Carlton North restaurant Enter Via Laundry’s new bar, opening April 12, they’re the backbone of the menu.

The bar at Enter Via Laundry serves Indian chaat (snacks) and inventive cocktails.
The bar at Enter Via Laundry serves Indian chaat (snacks) and inventive cocktails.Atti.Co

Owner Helly Raichura is flipping her fine-dining script, serving the chaat that she and her friends miss from home.

That includes chakna – deep-fried peanuts and lotus seeds with onion and coriander – which you’d find “at a drinking place on the side of [a] highway where the truck drivers would sit and eat,” she says.

“And it’s bloody delicious!” she adds.

Advertisement

The new 10-seat bar at the front of Enter Via Laundry is worlds away from a truck stop, but Raichura won’t be adding any cheffy tricks to the food. Instead, she’s bringing together everyday Indian food culture with the elevated approach she takes at her 18-seat tasting menu restaurant at the back.

Crab and corn paapdi chaat are on the menu at the new bar.
Crab and corn paapdi chaat are on the menu at the new bar.Atti.Co

Spanner crab is the most luxurious item on the menu of seven snacks. It’s cured, then heaped on top of house-made crackers with chilli, lemon myrtle, and tamarind chutney. There’s also bataka na bhajiya, fried slices of potato coated in spiced gram (chickpea) flour, and a chicken mince kofta that’s similar to a Scotch egg.

“They’re kind of exact versions of these dishes, I’m not changing too many things about them,” says Raichura.

Advertisement
Nargisi kofta (chicken mince Scotch eggs) is on the menu.
Nargisi kofta (chicken mince Scotch eggs) is on the menu.Supplied

Enter Via Laundry opened in its current location in 2022, with two dining rooms and a rear entrance, after four years of pop-ups.

The bar occupies one of the former dining rooms and faces Nicholson Street. This means, for the first time, guests will use the building’s front door. There’s also a sign on the street, open curtains and the ability to walk in without a booking.

Previously, dinner was a commitment of time, money and planning. Raichura hopes that people might visit the bar for their first taste of her food, or expats will drop by when they’re missing certain dishes.

Bar snacks include patra poda: silverbeet wrapped around prawn or oyster mushroom.
Bar snacks include patra poda: silverbeet wrapped around prawn or oyster mushroom.Atti.Co
Advertisement

The cocktail list (written by Tom McHugh, ex-Mulberry Group bartender) draws heavily on Indian and Australian ingredients.

A mango lassi-inspired drink features mango gin, lemon myrtle and mango puree in striking layers, while a black cardamom Old Fashioned uses the spice to infuse sugar syrup, and comes to the table amid wafts of with smoked paperbark.

Cocktails use Indian spices and Australian ingredients.
Cocktails use Indian spices and Australian ingredients.Atti.Co

The updated dining room now has bar stools, low tables and splashes of red, as well as photos and objects from the restaurant’s early days – including the table that guests used to sit around when Raichura ran supper clubs from her home in 2018 – which chart her journey from running a hobby to a business.

Enter Via Laundry’s bar opens Friday, April 12.

Advertisement

Continue this series

Your May hit list: The hot, new and just-reviewed places to check out this month
Up next
Casa Chino is a moody space with a long list of cocktails to go with the Peruvian-Chinese food.

Fusion food gets a bad rap, but this beautiful new Brunswick restaurant breaks the mould

Behind a heavy wooden door you’ll find Casa Chino – a special new spot for chifa, Peru’s beloved mash-up of local ingredients with Cantonese cooking.

Gauge Espresso & Bistro spans three shopfronts.

This neighbourhood bistro tucked off an eight-lane road exceeds expectations

Graduating from an espresso bar to a smart French restaurant, 13-year-old Gauge is a finely tuned local favourite.

Previous
Bistra is modelled on the great restaurants attached to Australian pubs in the 1990s.

Bistra brings back the old-school Aussie bistro complete with 𝄒90s menu classics

There’s beer on tap, trifle in glass bowls, and battered prawns. And a near-extinct hospitality tradition – replete with white tablecloths – is being revived.

See all stories
Emma BrehenyEmma BrehenyEmma is Good Food's Melbourne-based reporter and co-editor of The Age Good Food Guide 2024.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement

Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/this-ambitious-carlton-north-fine-diner-is-loosening-things-up-with-its-new-front-bar-20240408-p5fi9h.html