Coming Soon: Dafina Seaside Grill, Ellie Bouhadana’s Debut Restaurant

Nobody was supposed to know chef Ellie Bouhadana and her husband Rapha Tamir are opening a restaurant, Dafina Seaside Grill, in St Kilda next year.

“Our friends didn’t even know,” says the cookbook author, former Hope St Radio chef and serial pop-up host. But when a local walked past recently and stuck his head into the site for a chat, he couldn’t resist sharing the good news on a local Facebook group. Cue a cascade of excited shares, re-shares and re-shares of the re-shares.

The fervour is partly because of Bouhadana’s involvement, but mainly because of the address the couple has taken over: 213 Barkly Street. For 28 years it was home to local seafood institution Claypots, which closed in February.

“[Rapha and I] have been going there separately and together since we were kids,” Bouhadana says. “It’s not been like the first thing on my mind to open a restaurant, but it just feels like it makes sense in St Kilda for what we want to do and being in the neighborhood.” (The couple lives in Balaclava.)

“My argument to Ellie was: you do so many pop-ups and have so many fun creative ideas. Everyone wants a taste of what you’re cooking, but it’s always in someone else’s space, or it’s for a brand, as opposed to doing food you just want to cook and have your own creative control over,” Tamir says.

The seafood-heavy menu is one of many details still being pored over. For now, Bouhadana says Dafina will be romantic yet relaxed. She wants it to be a place where a couple can split a whole fish and a bottle of champagne in the restaurant, or have a quick beer and some oysters in the bar section.

“In terms of menu, it won’t be similar to what I did at [Ellie’s Kiosk] necessarily – because kiosk was very takeaway-based – but whenever I’m doing like a food concept, I always want it to have an accessible element, but also you can come for a fancier or special dining moment, too.”

Dafina will have about 140 seats, with Claypots’ iconic bougainvillea-draped courtyard retained. “It feels like you’re sitting in Greece when you’re out there having a beer, which I’m very excited for,” Tamir says. The couple also plans to keep the restaurant’s former live music program, potentially including local Elvis impersonator Rohan Hammit.

“We’re south-siders and love, love, love, the neighbourhood. We feel like there’s a bit of renewal taking place,” Tamir says. “We want to be part of that.”

Dafina will open at 213 Barkly Street, St Kilda, in summer 2027.