26 Melbourne Bars, Bakeries and Restaurants That Opened or Closed in May

The Melbourne hospitality scene is always in flux. Here are the new venues we got excited about in May, plus five closures.

Openings and new coverage

• First look: at Con Christopoulos’s Roma, there’s no place like Rome.

• First look: new Smith Street wine bar Little House goes back to basics.

• First look: Hector’s new Lygon Street deli adds maritozzi (and not much else) to the equation.

• First look: the dance floor is alive and well at Rumbler’s new Windsor club Coil.

• First look: Mamasita gives South Yarra a romantic new wine bar.

• First look: O’Connell’s Hotel reawakens in a sleepy pocket of South Melbourne.

• First look: Chicky Boi’s viral fried chicken sangas find a permanent home on Brunswick Street.

• First look: Richmond’s Spaghetti Club has so much more to offer.

• First look: Patricia’s second cafe proves the original concept was bang-on.

• First look: slow down at Interlude with fluffy Taiwanese sponge cakes and complex tea drinks.

• First look: what are “Melbourne-style cookies”? Bakestand thinks it has the answer.

• First look: new Thornbury jazz bar Jacket was designed from a playlist.

• First look: get tom yum fries and sticky rice cocktails at Thai wine bar Joe Taylor.

• Rosheen Kaul and Joe Jones’s pop-up French Asian bistro Little Rose has arrived.

• Moody late-night Tuscan bar The Florence opens on Flinders Lane.

• After 18 years at France-Soir, Franck Sammut opens his own relaxed South Melbourne spot.

• Chabela brings street snacks and more from Mexico City to Thornbury.

• Torquay’s new Surf Hotel is a beachfront diner for all occasions, by top chef Jo Barrett.

• Italian sub shop Nonna’s House finally reopens in new digs on Nicholson Street, grandma vibes intact.

• After a major revamp, a historic Malvern pub returns with the first of three new levels.

• Unwind at Yea’s House of Mi-rin, a 16-seat Korean restaurant and retreat.

Closures

• Brunswick live music venue Stay Gold, and neighbouring pizza parlour Ollie’s, to close.

• Chapel Street’s Lucky Coq closes after 20 years, making way for a new Morris Hospitality venue.

• Exhibition Street restaurant Antara to close – but a new venue is already slated for the space.

• La Belle Miette, the French patisserie on the top end of Collins Street, closed after almost 13 years. The closure was announced via an Instagram post, with the team citing the building’s upcoming redevelopment as the reason for the closure.

• Hardware Lane sweet shop Pandan Dessert Bar, run by Lulu’s Char Koay Teow, is now closed. The Malaysian dessert shop known for cendol and ice kacang had its last day of trade on Sunday, May 17.