Food Pop-Ups Are Flocking to Melbourne Bowls Clubs

The rise of the supper club was driven, in part, by people trying to create community-focused third spaces. But a new wave of chefs is tapping into one that’s been here all along: the local bowls club.

Long associated with cheap drinks and the occasional sausage sizzle – with the notable exception of Jo Barrett’s now-closed Little Picket in Lorne – bowlos have rarely been destinations for food. But operators like Tommy Two Buns at Fitzroy Bowls Club and MBC Canteen at the Melbourne Bowling Club, the country’s oldest existing bowls club, are changing that.

“It’s a good business model for sole traders in 2026,” says chef Miller “Mimmo” Cowie, who worked at Freddy’s, Zita’s and The Alps before launching MBC Canteen. “You can have lower overheads and, as a chef, be facing customers and maybe have things at a slightly better value.”

It’s proving good for the clubs, too. Before Ari Bedewi-Hayes launched Tommy Two Buns at Fitzroy’s bowling club in May, there was no regular food offering, and patronage had started to dip – as it does when the weather cools down. Now, his Sunday burger sessions draw crowds that spill from the clubhouse onto the greens.

Bedewi-Hayes serves a menu built around two core burgers. The Tommy pairs a charcoal-grilled beef patty with cheese, pickles, ketchup, mayonnaise, caramelised onion and truffle black garlic mustard, while the Tommy Deluxe adds lettuce, tomato and fresh onions. There’s also an occasional Reuben burger special, which stacks a 200-gram beef patty with pastrami and Swiss cheese.

A former butcher, Bedewi-Hayes is particular about sourcing. Grass-fed halal beef is purchased directly from an abattoir, minced in-house and cooked over charcoal on a parilla grill. “I wanted to elevate the experience without making it too pretentious," he says. "It’s still just a burger, but done really well.” The operation, he adds, is a nod to his Lebanese grandparents, who ran one of Collingwood’s charcoal-cooking restaurants, El Pasha, in the 1970s.

At MBC Canteen, Cowie takes a broader approach. You’ll find steak frites, fish’n’chips, parmas and burgers, but the main attraction is Detroit-style pizza – thick, airy slabs with crisp edges – with toppings that channel classic Australian pizza shops.

“I wanted it to be like Freddy’s and Leonard’s House of Love had a baby,” he says. “Old-school Australian pizza and grill vibes.”

Making the dough is a four-day process inspired by techniques he learned from the team at Pizza Oltra in Sydney. Bases are par-baked before being topped and returned to the oven, resulting in a focaccia-like crust that’s light yet sturdy enough to support toppings like hot honey pepperoni, pesto margherita, onion jam and ricotta or Hawaiian. “The dough is very Italian,” says Cowie. “But the toppings go back to nostalgic Pizza Hut flavours, just with better ingredients.”

Operating inside a club that opened in 1864 comes with politics. When things have always been done a certain way, coming in and making changes isn’t always welcomed. But he says becoming part of the club’s tight-knit community has been one of the job’s greatest rewards. “These members come every day,” he says. “You see how much it means to people.” For both operators, that’s part of the appeal. And with new offerings, they’re reshaping what these bowls clubs might look like for the next generation.

MBC Canteen
Melbourne Bowling Club
136 Union Street, Windsor

Hours:
Wed & Thu 5pm–9pm
Fri & Sat 3pm–10pm
Sun 1pm–6.30pm

@mbc_canteen

Tommy Two Buns
Fitzroy Bowls Club
578 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North

Opening hours change from month to month. See Instagram for updates.

@tommytwobuns