With venues including Bistra, Norma and Bistrot Bissou opening earlier this year, back in June we wondered if 2024 was going to be the year of the bistro. Elio's Place, which siblings Adam and Elisa Mariani opened on Flinders Lane yesterday, supports the theory.

The siblings are also behind the cafe Maverick and the schmick European sandwich shop and wine bar Greta, both of which they opened after running now-shuttered cafes The Petty Officer and Mayday.

Their new venue is a 90-seat European bistro that opens early with a breakfast menu, transitions seamlessly through to lunch and dinner and stays open late for drinks. It’s a tribute to their late father, Elio Mariani, and is their “most ambitious venue to date”, Elisa says.

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“It’s ‘Bistro’ in all the best ways – in the sense of Elio’s Place’s look, feel, and energetic service – but will take on a more modern approach with our food offering,” Adam says of the menu they developed with head chef Matilde Razzoli.

Comté omelettes, buckwheat porridge and the Austrian kaiserschmarrn (scrambled pancakes) are part of a concise breakfast menu. Takeaway sandwiches with options including mortadella and mushroom pate are available from a caramel-coloured front bar.

The lunch and dinner menu is designed to be shared, just like a “classic Mariani family meal”. There’s a cabbage skewer with a butter emulsion topped with the mildly hot French capsicum Espelette and a Black Angus flank steak served alongside the Italian side cime di rapa, celebrated for its sweet and bitter flavours.

Leaning into the best of Italian culture and taking advantage of the city’s foot traffic, there’ll be daily aperitivo hours from 3pm to 5pm with snacks, a European-inspired wine list, and a cocktail menu that slightly tweaks the classics.

“We grew up surrounded by Italian-European hospitality directly from the source, our father. It has been so special to emulate that in this space through soft inviting interior design, the warmth in service from our team and just good European-inspired food and drink,” says Elisa.

Elio’s Place
238 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
9969 2856

Hours:
Daily 7am–late
eliosplace.com.au