From new rooftop bars to soon-to-open restaurants in the Melbourne CBD, there are always plenty of new venues to know about in Melbourne. Here, we’ve picked the most noteworthy venue openings to have on your radar in 2024.
Whether you’re keen to know about a seaside oyster-loving wine bar, a moody new supper club with Euro-centric snacks, or joyous Indian restaurant at the back of a pub, we have you covered.
Zareh and Sarafian
Hummus heavyweight and talented chef Tom Sarafian is set to open two new venues this winter, joining forces with Nathan Toleman who’s behind the Mulberry Group (Hazel Restaurant and Dessous). After closing Bar Saracen in early 2021, Sarafian spent time working on personal projects, including making his own hummus, toum and harissa products, as well as carefully making plans for his next ventures.
In the coming months, Melbourne’s CBD will welcome both Zareh, a restaurant and bar; and Sarafian, a deli and casual eatery. Zareh is named after the chef’s grandfather and will explore Levantine cuisine with a decidedly Melbourne feel, including Sarafian’s signature dish of king prawn and spanner crab hummus. You can also expect meats and seafood cooked over a custom-made Armenian barbecue; and a focus on flatbreads and pastries from Lebanon, Egypt, Armenia and more. At the eponymous deli, Sarafian’s handmade products will be on full display – think freshly made yoghurt, cheeses, jams and cured meats – alongside a dine-in menu.
instagram.com/zareh.melbourne and instagram.com/sarafian.melbourne
Fidels
A lively new rooftop bar opens in Melbourne’s Southbank this week, transforming the former Merrywell Rooftop at Crown Melbourne into a vibrant Cuban-inspired bar with bright-hued furnishings, Latin tunes and a lush terrace. Named Fidels, the bar is slated to open Thursday 18 April and promises playful cocktails; an extensive selection of rum and whisky; and a tapas-style menu – think braised lamb empanadas, salted cod croquettes and rum-glazed pork belly.
crownmelbourne.com.au/restaurants/fidels
The Walrus
Seaside ‘burb St Kilda has welcomed The Walrus, a sunny-hued, local-leaning wine and oyster bar. A 20-strong wine-by-the-glass list rotates regularly, and the wider list includes everything from bubbles to a dedicated page of wines that specifically pair well with bivalves. You’ll find different oysters served atop hand-carved ice, from Wapengo Lakes in NSW, Albany in WA and Duck Bay in Tasmania; and you can order an oyster “mezze” with oysters joined by cold cuts, pickles, dip, bread and salad. You’ll also find an assortment of seafood snacks including mussel beignets, prawn sandwiches and gildas.
Castlerose
Following year-long delays, South Melbourne has finally welcomed Castlerose, a moody supper club conceptualised by Glen Bagnara (Hemingway’s Wine Room and Bar Bianco). Twentieth-century opulence is channelled through the interiors with timber floors, slick marble and Italian terrazzo. Head chef David Yuan explores Euro wine bar snack standards – think duck rillettes with fig jam, cornichons, and toast; ratatouille tarte Tatin; and covertly plated confit duck, served from the table in a cigar box.
Pirate Life Melbourne
In South Melbourne, Adelaide brewery Pirate Life has opened its first Victorian outpost. Located in a former mechanic’s garage, close to South Melbourne Markets, the brewery’s kitchen has a simple and fresh approach to food, with a menu designed to sit well with a beer or two. Dual head chefs Maria Delengas and Nicolas Lopez (who have both come over from Adelaide, after cooking at Loc Bottle Bar and Arkhé respectively) oversee the menu. Lopez is doing a take on Cajun seafood rice and Mallorcan arroz brut, resulting in a dish that looks a little bit like paella, replete with bugs, clams, fish stock and bomba rice. You can also order up flank steak skewers marinated in achiote and pale ale; or a slow-cooked pork roll, which sees pork neck cooked over fire and thinly sliced, served with a spicy sauce and fresh onion salad. South Australian architecture firm Studio Gram brings a slice of Adelaide and industrial chic to the space with exposed bricks, polished concrete and large-scale murals. And of course, Pirate Life’s core range of beers – which span from coastal-inspired pale ales to acai-spiked sour beers – will be on tap alongside one-off brews.
Brico
Moving into a building steeped in hospitality history can raise certain expectations, but for the team at Brico – a CarltonNorth restaurant and wine bar that’s opened in the footprints of Little Andorra and Tansy’s – it’s a badge of honour. “This building is famous for anyone that’s ever been in the Melbourne industry. It’s got such rich heritage,” says Brico co-owner Josh Begbie. Paying tribute to the iconic Melbourne venues that came before Brico, was just part of the inspiration for the team. They also drew on their love of European wine bars, as well as their collective experience, which spans London’s Brawn, Sydney’s Poly and 121 BC, and Melbourne’s Embla and Bar Liberty.
The name itself comes from a play on the French word “bricolage”, a creation made from a diverse range of available things, which is how the team likes to view their new endeavour. “We love places that have a sense of honesty to them. They’re not always the most polished or the fanciest venues. But there is a consideration in everything”, says Begbie, who is joined by co-owner Phil Bracey, and their respective partners Robyn Nethercote and Tegan Ella Hendel. The foursome first met while working together in London more than a decade ago.
On the food front, they’ve enlisted Tasmanian-born chef Simon Ball-Smith who’s worked at Franklin, The Builders Arms and Public Wine Shop. “Simon is willing to champion the produce, as we do with the wine,” says Begbie. Cue Sydney rock oysters with a bright white pepper mignonette; crudités with taramasalata; goat’s curd with marinated zucchini and lovage; and grilled McIvor Farm pork neck with apricot and fig. Wine is equally important at Brico, with Begbie and Bracey sharing sommelier duties. The list explores the Adelaide Hills, Mount Gambier and Gippsland more locally, while also trotting over to the Loire Valley and Beaujolais in France.
Doju
In the CBD, Korean food is setting the city abuzz, with Doju opening on Collins Street. Mika Chae (whose surname you may recognise as the cousin of eponymous restaurant owner Jung Eun Chae) heads up the operation, slinging South Korean-meets-modern Australian snacks with an emphasis on using top-notch produce. This may mean charred leeks come with crisp chicken skin, cashew cream and brown butter; or West Australian marron is served with garlic butter, stinging nettle noodles and green sauce. There’s also odes to some of Korea’s most loved dishes including galbi (Korean beef short rib) with horseradish, shiitake mushroom and chive kimchi; and market fish hwe (a sliced raw fish dish) with sunrise lime, doenjang (fermented soy bean paste), cucumber and Yarra Valley roe.
Toddy Shop by Marthanden Hotel
Melbourne chef Mischa Tropp has taken over the former Mono XO space, opening Toddy Shop by Marthanden Hotel. The compact but flavourful eatery hones in on crisp South Indian dosas and flaky porota. A roster of specials – perhaps a spicy fish nadan (a Keralan tamarind fish curry) with Spanish mackerel; or pork pepper roast (a curry underpinned by black pepper and punchy green chilli) – bolster the menu, while golden ghee dosas are made daily. Alongside the kicking curries, there are wines and brews from local South Asian-Australian producers and an Indian disco soundtrack to keep things up-tempo. “This Toddy Shop is a replication of everything I love about the south of India, incredible food made by locals for locals at a great price,” says Tropp. “This is a venue to make my community proud, something for people to cross town for because they miss the food of the motherland.”
Johnny’s Green Room
Karen Martini has stepped in as culinary director at the revamped Johnny’s Green Room. The Carlton rooftop – which resides above swish grocery store King and Godfree – closed to transform the space, which now features a semi-retractable roof to allow for year-round enjoyment (while still being able to enjoy your Aperol Spritz in the sunshine). Owners Jamie Valmorbida and Luca Sbardella enlisted interior architect Dion Hall (who is responsible for Her’s Music Room, Supernormal and Rare Hare) to oversee the renovation. Meanwhile Martini is overhauling the menu with her signature breezy but excellent Euro plates — think pizzas made with 48-hour slow fermented dough, or calamari spiedini with Italian-style tartare sauce and fried parsley.
Circl
In the CBD, a wine-focused bar-meets-cellar restaurant will open on Punch Lane, headed up by a group of sommeliers hoping to make rare wine allocations more accessible. Circl will see director Xavier Vigier (Ten Minutes by Tractor and Merivale) blend his love of his home country’s (France) wines with Australian drops via a 1500-bottle wine list, with 120 bottles available by the glass. Executive chef Elias Salomonsson will oversee a food offering that stands up next to the lofty list.
Pincho Disco
Over in Collingwood, a new day-to-night dining destination with Latin American tunes, tipples and sticky snacks has opened. Pincho Disco may be an unlikely combination of terms (pincho meaning stick or skewer and disco referring to the music style as much as the club vibe) but together they form a lively late-night dining and cocktail spot on Cambridge Street.
Latin America will serve as the expansive brief for Pincho Disco, with chef Diego Cardenas taking over the Josper oven and woodfire-powered kitchen. The Colombian-born chef worked extensively across Spain and Peru before coming to Australia and will use this time to inform the menu. Cardenas plans to devote a section of the menu to the venue’s namesake skewers. “Then [we’ll do] a ceviche (raw fish cooked in tiger’s milk), aguachiles (a Mexican-style ceviche) and crudo, done with octopus, snapper, kingfish, snapper, scallops and more,” he says. This lighter, snackier part of the menu is ideal for quick bites across the two-level venue joined by cocktails, or for whetting the appetite before diving into the larger meat-focused plates.
Culinary director Jake Furst is excited to bring his experience in dry-ageing meats to Pincho Disco. “I have a love for dry-aged meats and steaks – we focused on the dry-ageing program at Cinder in Fitzroy,” says Furst, speaking of a nearby venue in the wider Kickon Group, a collection of 10 kitchens which he oversees. The grills will also serve vegetarians with a golden Argentinian-style wood-fired cheese.
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