Your Next Favourite Restaurant Might Be Your Favourite Cafe

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The staff at Juniper were throwing a barbeque, and everyone at the South Melbourne cafe had to bring something. “And some of our Thai chefs just brought such amazing food, like marinated meats to barbeque and these incredible dipping sauces,” says co-owner Dom Gattermayr. “Everyone was just like ‘How have you not made this before?’

“Then it obviously dawned on us that they’d never really had the opportunity to cook this food for people.”

Gattermayr also co-owns Hot-Listed cafe Florian , in Carlton North. Around two years ago, the beloved Rathdowne Street spot made the curious decision to start opening on Friday nights with a standalone dinner service.

“We were looking for new ways to engage our staff, so we started doing guest chef dinners,” she says. Chefs ranged from pop-up specialists such as Boma’s Lynh Nguyen and John Chinsami , to guest shifts from overseas restaurants like Bali-based Fed. Eventually though, Florian settled on using talent from within its kitchen. That’s when Florian Fridays really found their groove. (Even though chefs like ex-Earth Angels head chef Narit Kimsat and bartender Joe Jones still drop by for the odd takeover.)

“We always wanted to open nights, but we wanted to make sure we got it right – and now it feels like the momentum’s really there,” Gattermayr says. “We wanted the entire experience to change so people would view them as two separate things.

“Now when you come here for dinner, and the space is bustling, it really feels like a proper restaurant. Not a cafe that also opens at night.”

But Florian had always wanted to open on Thursdays, with a more consistent menu and theme. So Gattermayr asked her chefs from Juniper, June Butthanu and Ut Utsharaporn, if they wanted to use the night to cook Thai food.

The result is Ban Sabai, a one-night-a-week Thai restaurant in Florian, which has been running for two months. It’s a win-win. Gattermayr gets more out of her space, and Butthanu and Utsharaporn get the autonomy of restaurant ownership, without the risk.

“The hospitality climate is so tricky right now for so many reasons – why don’t we just add value to what we’re already doing instead of opening a Thai restaurant?” she says. “And the girls are so excited about doing it.”

Getting ready for a night-time service at Florian. Photo: Courtesy Florian

There’s a big difference between cafes choosing to do dinner and all-day diners. Places like Napier Quarter , Heartattack & Vine , and newer players like Elio’s Place and Good Measure have traded all day virtually since their opening. Those spots seamlessly take you from day to night, whilst fundamentally feeling like the same place.

At Good Measure, the espresso machines don’t turn off till 8pm. At Heartattack, you can start to order cicchetti and wines while the last sandwiches from earlier in the day are being sold. They always feel like themselves.

But when daytime-only cafes decide to do nights, they want to be completely different.

“Florian’s doing some mad stuff,” says Nesbert Kagonda, who co-owns Fenton Farmhouse , further up Rathdowne Street. “It’s really cool when you see leading cafes do stuff outside of the box, because it gives everyone else the confidence to try different things.

“When I saw they were doing a Thai restaurant I thought ‘Okay, well now cafes can be Thai restaurants too, I guess’.”

Kagonda is also an expert at bending the cafe genre. During the pandemic his cafe, Bloom, morphed into community grocer Tanaka, which sold lockdown essentials. Tanaka closed in 2023 and became pasta bar Super Norma. Now, he runs Fenton, a few doors down.

But Fenton’s a big space, and cafes are doing it tough right now.

“The coffee industry’s becoming much more difficult, you have to find other ways to increase your weekly revenue,” Kagonda says. “When you’re paying rent for 24 hours a day, you may as well do as many things as possible with your space and make it benefit as many people in your neighbourhood as you can.”

Now Kagonda uses Fenton’s night-time openings as a chance to express his creativity, support people that share his values – and improve his bottom line.

Queueing up for a Fenton event – and no-one's there for coffee. Photo: Courtesy Fenton

Every Friday , they invite the Super Norma boys to take over Fenton’s space. “They have a small space, we have a big one – it just syncs up,” Kagonda says. “They sell more pasta, we sell more drinks, we all make more money – it’s just happy days for everyone.”

Fenton has about a half-dozen alter egos. Some nights there’s a wine-pairing night hosted by Fenton’s Belgian sommelier in residence , collage workshops by poet and artist Hannah Emeagi , chess nights by Migrant Chess Club and parties by DJ duo Navy Blue Radio. Sometimes there’s even dinner. Like a supper club by sustainably focused Doesn’t Cost the Earth , or a takeover by Sydney-based Jollof Kitchen.

It's fun for locals, it maximises Fenton’s footprint, and it supports people in Kagonda’s community.

“A lot of people out there want to test their ideas, so we can come together and help each other,” he says. “We’re like a cafe that becomes a little community centre.”

Up in Brunswick, Little Homey is preparing to launch its first dinner club series next month. The cafe inside Honey Bones Gallery opened last November. Since then, its events have become just as well-known as its coffee.

“I’m fortunate enough to have the gallery – that gives us a lot of space to play with,” says owner Chad Camp. “It lets me focus on my passion: bringing the community together and promoting Black-owned businesses.”

In the mornings at Little Homey you might stumble across a yoga class, a zine market or a sewing workshop. At night there could be anything from table tennis comps and pop-ups bars, to dance parties and art exhibitions celebrating Melbourne’s African diaspora.

Summer evenings at Little Homey. Photo: Courtesy Little Homey

With the risk of low attendance and ticket sales, events might seem risky. But Camp believes the hospo winds are changing, and that they could be a safer bet than the old model.

“I think events are definitely safer now,” he says. “I’ve worked in restaurants and bars where it’s completely quiet on a Thursday night.

“I’d rather curate a more unique, personalised experience. And people are showing up for that.”

In the past, these events have been catered by places like pinoy barbeque specialists Eskinita , Palestinian food truck Aheda’s Kitchen , Jamaica Patwah Kitchen , and South African street food from Ostrich & Egg.

“I’ve been able to build a network of start-up chefs,” Camp says. “Businesses that are either Black-owned or by people of colour that maybe don’t get the same kind of attention from the usual markets and festivals.”

Camp will be drawing on that network for the dinner clubs.

“There are so many creative people out there that don’t have the means to put something on,” he says. “I’m glad I can be that middle person.”

Seven cafes with night-time alter egos to try

Ophelia , Westgarth (from June 17)
Fenton , Carlton
Moon Mart , South Melbourne
Glory Us , Fitzroy North
Florian , Carlton North
Little Homey , Brunswick
Sleepy’s Wine Bar and Cafe , Carlton North

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