Melbourne’s Most Anticipated Restaurant and Bar Openings of 2023

Between the Sydney dining staples setting their sights on Victoria and local icons venturing into tasty new territory, Melbourne has a searing hot roster of new venues due to open this year. Even trusty lasagne is finding a new home (sandwiched between two slices of ciabatta) thanks to 1800-Lasagne’s Joey Kellock. These are the new venues we can’t wait to check out in 2023.

Gimlet Bar
After a good while eyeing off a corner side spot on Hosier and Flinders lanes, Andrew McConnell and the Trader House crew have secured a home for Gimlet’s “little sister” bar. The former drycleaners is set to become a 30-person cocktail bar (the fourth McConnell venue on Flinders Lane) in the middle of the year, designed by the same Sydney-based firm responsible for Gimlet’s glam dining room. There’ll be no kitchen, but to accompany their drinks, guests can expect freshly shucked oysters, sea urchins scooped fresh from their tests (shells) and jamon sliced to order.

1800 La-Sanga and Dopolavoro
Melbourne’s king of lasagne, Joey Kellock, is expanding his stable. The man behind Thornbury’s 1800 Lasagne is dialling up the Italiana with two new High Street venues in the coming months. 1800 La-Sanga is a sandwich shop that’ll serve ciabattas filled with slabs of the famed lasagne, as well cotoletta, porchetta and a vegetarian option or two. And then there’s Dopolavoro, a wine bar five doors up in an old watchmaker’s shop. It’ll be an Italian-inspired after-work bar and live-music venue with an “anything goes” brief and snacks arriving on a trolley.

Hopper Joint
Hoppers will be the hero (and namesake) at this theatrical new Sri Lankan diner opening midyear. It’s from the pair behind Entrecote – Jason Jones and interior designer Brahman “Bremi” Perera, who grew up in Doncaster with a big extended Sri Lankan family. There’ll be three variations on the hopper (a bowl-shaped, wafer-thin pancake made with rice flour): plain, egg, and string. A recent trip to Sri Lanka inspired the fit-out, which will be guided by colonial architecture and the work of prolific Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa – with a distinct Perera flair.

Totti’s
Sydney hospo giant Merivale is on the way, bringing what is arguably its most popular restaurant concept (and its famous puffy bread) to the Great Ocean Road in March. While the Lorne outpost will have the same casual yet sophisticated vibe and signature dishes, it’s going to take advantage of its ocean-side location. Chef Matt Germanchis will work with local producers and fishmongers to serve top seafood such as calamari, mussels, crayfish and King George whiting, often just grilled and seasoned, with a splash of olive oil.

Reine and La Rue
The Nomad crew is all fired up (as is their natural state) with plans to open two new venues in Melbourne midyear. Al and Rebecca Yazbek, with chef Jacqui Challinor, are set to open an elegant restaurant, Reine, and a bar, La Rue, in the Queen & Collins development, enveloped by the building’s distinct Gothic Revival charm.

Henrietta’s
One of Sydney’s finest charcoal chicken restaurants is headed to town in early May. Henrietta’s founders were dining at Tokyo Tina when they spotted the perfect location for their expansion. “We saw it, we loved it, and we’d always had the idea of taking it to Melbourne,” co-founder Ibby Moubadder tells Broadsheet. The famed charcoal chicken is best eaten with your hands, on a bed of Lebanese bread slathered in toum (garlic sauce). Plus, there’ll be cocktails and beer on tap, and Henrietta’s sommelier is working on the wine list.

Moon Dog Footscray
The iconic Franco Cozzo site in “Foot-is-cray” has been vacant for several years now, but Melbourne’s cheeky Moon Dog has big plans to build a new venue in the famous building. The company has lodged a planning application with council for a new 900-capacity venue on the site, including a rooftop garden with sweeping city views. Moon Dog Footscray will open in summer 2023, pending a successful application.

Pirate Life
South Australia’s Pirate Life is setting sail for the garden state. In mid-2023, the brewery will open its first Melbourne taproom, in a former mechanic’s garage near South Melbourne Market. Like the IPAs, the finer details are hazy. But punters can expect the core range of brews and some limited releases such as fruit sours and barrel-aged imperials. As for food, the crew “love cooking over fire, so anticipate charred goodness”.

Additional reporting by Katya Wachtel, Sarah Norris, Tomas Telegramma, Nick Connellan and Emma Joyce.