Victor Churchill To Open a Second Melbourne Location

It’s easy to define the goal for the new Victor Churchill. “I want to build the most beautiful and the best steak restaurant and bar experience in the world,” says founder and CEO Anthony Puharich.

“I know that’s big, bold and grand, but big, bold and grand is always how I’ve approached everything that I’ve done.” 

Puharich, the son of fourth-generation butcher Victor Puharich, opened the first Victor Churchill, a retail butcher, in Sydney in 2009. In 2021, he opened Victor Churchill in Armadale, a retail space, restaurant and bar. And in May 2027, he’ll open the second outpost at Crown Melbourne.

Puharich, who is unapologetically ambitious, says he wasn’t necessarily looking to open a new restaurant when Crown approached him, but he jumped at the opportunity. The new restaurant will be on the third floor, rather than on the ground level where Nobu and Rockpool are, and will have a dedicated entrance in Crown Towers. Puharich is working with New York design studio Avroko on a fit-out that will be heavy on velvet, marble, timber and copper.

The original Sydney store was famously dubbed “the most beautiful butcher shop in the world” by Anthony Bourdain, leaving Puharich with a lot to live up to. The new venue will have a 120-seat dining room and 60- to 80-seat bar with a view of the river and skyline. 

Through Victor Churchill offshoot Vic’s Meat, Puharich supplies some of the best restaurants in the country and has worked with top culinary talent. As a result, he has the “chance to handpick who I believe is one of only a handful of the most creative, talented and intelligent chefs in the country”. 

That chef is Monty Koludrovic, brought on as head of culinary. The two have known each other for close to 20 years and each refers to the other as a sounding board when it comes to life and career. “He’s a diamond,” Puharich says of the chef.

Koludrovic, originally from Byron Bay, has worked at Sydney’s Icebergs and just returned to Australia after a six-year-stint in Los Angeles, where he most recently worked as culinary director at private members’ club Living Room. 

With the new restaurant over a year out from opening, the menu is still very much in the works. “My process is to build out a massive menu that becomes a home for ideas,” Koludrovic says. “It becomes an organism that shrinks and grows and changes.” Though he does know “the steak list is going to be epic”, and plans to go hard on side dishes and sauces, with plans to hire a dedicated saucier.

“Victor Churchill is about quality, but it’s also about craft. To bring Victor Churchill – the essence and core of what that brand is into the restaurant – I think commitment to sauce and stock is a great way to do it.” 

Most importantly, Puharich says he wants the new outpost to be fun, cool, approachable, welcoming and warm. “A place where people can relax and enjoy the ‘Victor Churchill way’”, which Puharich says is about building a rapport and relationships with customers, and passing on knowledge.

Victor Churchill is expected to open at Crown Melbourne in May 2027.