Shannon Martinez is reinventing Smith & Daughters again. On Thursday August 8, she’ll relaunch her 10-year-old vegan restaurant as Smith & Daughters Social Club.

The social club will be in the same Collingwood space that’s been home to the restaurant since 2021, but it will have a snacky menu, a more casual vibe and emphasis on drinks. The new menu is accompanied by a new cocktail list, including a Breakfast Mai Tai made with rum, amaretto, lime juice, and orange marmalade made at Martinez’s neighbouring Smith & Deli, and the
LBD with dark rum, chocolate bitters and Smith & Deli’s orange honey.

We caught up with Martinez just before the relaunch to discuss some of the menu items she’s most excited about.

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Corndog. Photography: Courtesy of Smith & Daughters / Ashley Ludkin

Corndog with golden curry ketchup and pickled mustard seeds

“It’s a real amalgamation of currywurst, which I fucking love, and corndogs – obviously a childhood throwback. But also a big nod to one of my favourite Korean snacks.

“We’ll be making the [vegan] Frankfurt ourselves, and then it’s just classic corndog vibes. But instead of using plain mustard, which is very typical, the pickled mustard seeds add such a great texture and a pop of flavour. It’s a bit more acidic, too.

“With this whole menu, maybe at face value, some of the dishes can read a bit trashy – which is good, in my opinion – but also there’s a lot more to them. This is from a bloody fair! It’s a snacky thing, but we’re elevating the way [corndogs] are made.”



Pizzetta. Photography: Courtesy of Smith & Daughters / Ashley Ludkin

Pizzetta with ’nduja and orange honey

“We use a 24-hour ferment super-high-hydration dough that we shape and then fry it. It’s a little personal pan pizza sort of vibes. Then the ’nduja is something I also worked on for ages, because I love ’nduja, but it’s something I haven’t seen a vegan version of. So to give it that sort of gutsy, creamy texture that ’nduja has, we’re using kidney beans and red fermented rice.”

Braised rappa with chickpeas and white polenta

“It’s gonna be interesting to see what people think of [this dish], because it’s so simple, so incredibly fucking delicious. It’s cime di rapa, so [rappa] looks like wild broccoli but it’s a leafy bitter green. I’m not really a fan of green greens. I'm a big fan of grey greens … I cook the fuck out of them. No crispy greens here. So these greens usually cook for about 45 minutes. Proper Euro stuff, you know? I'm sick of cooking food for anyone else; I’m cooking just what I love and think is delicious.”



Ginger pudding. Photography: Courtesy of Smith & Daughters / Ashley Ludkin

Ginger pudding with marmalade and cream

“This is a bit of a spin on one of my favourite desserts of all time, which is the ginger pudding at St John in London. I’m not really a dessert girl but that dish had me in a chokehold, I was so obsessed that I went three days in a row for it. So we’re doing a spin on that now. We’re adding marmalade in there, and we’re also going to serve it with a vegan cream.

“It is just, again, warm, wholesome, delicious, really unctuous. It feels like something your mum would have made you when you were younger, but you don't remember her ever making it for you.”