First Look: Geelong Fine-Dining Favourite Igni Is Reborn As Songbird, Inspired by Chiang Mai Street Food

There was a collective gasp around Melbourne when the team behind Igni announced last June that after seven years in business the restaurant would have its final service at the end of September. Public reaction to the news of the renowned Geelong fine diner’s impending closure was so extreme that chef Aaron Turner and business partner Joanna Smith delayed shutting until December 23 of last year.

“We are not killing off the brand, we are looking at different ways of doing things,” Turner tells Broadsheet of Igni’s future. “Jo and I, respectively, both have young kids. We both love doing restaurants, but we needed to find a way to do it with our new responsibilities.”

While the future of Igni is in flux, Turner has handed over the kitchen to chef Nathan Lancaster to open a new restaurant, Songbird, with which both Turner and Smith remain involved as co-owners and as part of the operations team.

Lancaster worked as a chef at Igni for three years, but prior to that honed his Thai cooking skills in San Francisco working with Thai- and Laotian-American chef James Syhabout for over two years at Hawker Fare, a casual spot in the Mission District known for Lao Isan food.

His Songbird menu showcases his love of Thai dishes, with a key focus on street food from the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai. “Most of the stuff in Chiang Mai is cooked over coals,” Lancaster tells Broadsheet. At Songbird, the kitchen team will take advantage of the former Igni grill, giving everything a lick of flame thanks to red gum wood and charcoal.

Where Igni was minimalistic with a tasting menu, Songbird’s offering is à la carte. The opening menu features just five snacks, five mains and five salads. Dishes on offer include what Lancaster sees as the big three: gai yang (grilled marinated chicken); moo yang (grilled pork); and sai oua (fragrant northern Thai sausage) made here from pork belly and pork shoulder with red curry flavours of makrut lime leaf and lemongrass, and served with a relish made from roasted green peppers, garlic, fish sauce and imported Thai lime juice.

Smith curates the drinks list as she did at Igni. “It won’t be a comfort zone wine list,” she says, “it’ll be a bit weird and wonderful and nice.” Beer taps pour Singha and New England pale ale from Two Rupees Brewing, while cocktails include a boozy iced coffee with condensed milk and a makrut lime Margarita. There will also be low- and non-alcoholic cocktails as well as Smith’s house-made kefirs, ferments and infused vodkas.

Smith, along with her family, is also behind the restaurant’s aesthetic transformation. Where there were calm, neutral tones before, the walls are now domino black, offsetting a riot of pinks, bright teals, bold floral oilcloth tablecloths and a bright pink repurposed three-tiered bowling rack used as a waiters’ station. The capacity has increased from 28 seats to 50 and banquette seats are made from red painted steel-framed pews from a local Baptist church.

As Smith puts it, Songbird is “an assault on the senses in general – food, wine, cocktails, colours”.

Songbird
2 Ryan Place South Rear of 205, 207 Moorabool St, Geelong
(03) 5222 2266

Hours
Wed to Sat 5pm–10pm

restaurantigni.com