The idea behind Charcoal Lane is simple: to transform lives through food. A social enterprise restaurant providing Aboriginal and disengaged youth with meaningful work and hospitality training. The Gertrude Street location is situated in the same building that was home to the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service almost twenty years ago.

The smart service and elegant décor suggest nothing ‘trainee’ about Charcoal Lane. The heavy black doors of the once-condemned building open onto a crisp, black and white dining room, punctuated simply by hand-crafted eel trap lighting and art commissions from Victorian indigenous artists.

Head chef Damien Styles, formerly of Taxi and The Point, is hitting his stride by experimenting with native flavours to create dishes that are contemporary, complex and well presented. Dishes such as wallaby tartare and kangaroo tataki showcase a subtlety and tenderness to native meat. Styles is also committed to sourcing ingredients from businesses where Aboriginal communities will benefit, using native flora like saltbush and samphire from local markets. It’s this ethos that drives Styles’ cooking and teaching in the kitchen at Charcoal Lane.