Three To Try: Great New Bars From Melbourne Hospo Pros

There’s nothing like walking into a bar and knowing you’re in good hands. Seasoned operators have a way of making you feel at home and at ease. That’s part of the reason why these three new bars from established hospo pros – including two bona fide legends – are some of the city’s most exciting spots for a drink.

Le Pub, CBD

Le Pub is a contemporary take on the Aussie pub-slash-bottle-shop from Melbourne greats Con Christopoulos and Josh Brisbane, both behind The European, French Saloon and more.

For years, the site was home to Kirk’s, the smaller sibling of neighbouring Kirk’s Wine Bar. But in winter, the team reworked the space and even incorporated the next-door tenancy, to turn it into something more ambitious. Now Le Pub, it has a serious kitchen, a general licence and capacity for 100 people across the ground floor.

Brisbane describes the food as “counter meals that feel both elevated and honest”. The menu is written by hand and updated throughout the day, with mains capped at $30. There’s a pie of oxtail, snails and bone marrow, with the bone sticking up through the centre of the crust. And what chef Luke Fraser describes as a “modern” fish’n’chips made with market fish and kipfler potatoes in cafe de Paris butter.

On the drinks side, the venue functions as a bottle shop first. The wines are retail-priced and drinkable on-site with a $25 corkage fee. There’s no list. “The wall is the list,” says Brisbane. That means approachable, easy-drinking bottles, plus a few big hitters, and a rotating cast of in-house collaborations.

Boire, North Melbourne

Nagesh Seethiah’s Hot-Listed Manze is known for the chef’s singular take on modern Mauritian food, as well as the community that’s sprung up around the restaurant. In August, Seethiah and his team opened Hot-Listed Boire, a sibling venue across the road.

Boire (“to drink” in Mauritian Creole) takes the warmth, flavour and connection from Manze (“to eat”) and translates it into a more casual format. There’s no need to commit to a set menu like at Manze. Instead, there are snacky plates such as fried goat ribs, olive achard (olives pickled in turmeric and chilli), and taro and ginger fritters (the only dish that’s crossed over from Manze).

The cocktail list riffs on tropical and nostalgic flavours, with the Banana and Cacao Old Fashioned sitting alongside house-made sodas and other non-alc options.

“We’ve been thinking for years about how best to create a more casual Manze experience,” Seethiah says. “This space lets us do that. It’s snackier, more flexible, and it allows us to have fun and experiment.”

Melitta Next Door, Carlton

When Hot-Listed Bar Bellamy opened on Rathdowne Street in 2023, owners Danielle and Oska Whitehart planned for it to be a relaxed cocktail bar that served the local community. It’s been bustling ever since, but they noticed the cost-of-living crisis was affecting who could enjoy the bar. “We found some younger neighbours around here are finding it a bit difficult to interact with,” Danielle tells *Broadsheet.

So at the end of August, they opened the more casual counterpart Melitta Next Door. To help keep costs low, the new, Hot-Listed bar has pre-batched cocktails, including three Martinis poured straight from the freezer, and a Passioncello Spritz (vodka, passionfruit and preserved lemon).

Lorena Corso (formerly a chef at Napier Quarter and Estelle) leans into her Sicilian heritage and experience in restaurants in the UK and Australia. “I don’t call [the food] strictly Sicilian. It’s anything from Spain all the way to Turkey and North African food as well,” she says. Expect a tapas-inspired affair with lots of skewers, stuffed squid and panelle (Sicilian chickpea fritters) enjoyed alongside a Cynar Spritz or glass of something from Fine Wines.

Additional reporting by Claire Adey, Sebastian Pasinetti and James Williams.