The Walrus Team Opens The Carpenter’s Ruin, a “St Kilda-Themed” Pub

This week’s we’re adding The Carpenter’s Ruin to The Hot List, the definitive guide to Melbourne’s most essential food and drink experiences.

Before opening St Kilda wine bar The Walrus, owners Amy McGouldrick and Marty Webster worked together at some of Melbourne’s finest wine bars – including The Alps, Milton Wine Bar and The Moon. Their new partners at The Carpenter’s Ruin include Walrus head chef Ciara Woodside ; Cameron and Caitlin Marshall; and Barney and Kate Flanders. Both the Marshalls and the Flanders are the winemakers behind Garagiste Wines and Range Life Wine. If you had to pick one word to sum up this group of people, it would be “wine”. So why are they opening a pub in the next door building?

“When we got the opportunity for next door we thought, ‘What does the area need?’” says McGouldrick. “We live in the area, and we resoundingly wanted something that is really comfortable and classic and consistent – which is the polar opposite of what we do at The Walrus.”

So, unlike The Walrus and its changing food line-up, The Carpenter’s Ruin has a menu you can set your watch to. There’s a Sunday roast. There’s a steak night. You better believe there’s a meat raffle. And a mean schnitty. Basically – it’s a small pub. But it has the same polish and enthusiasm for great service you’ll find next door.

The Walrus is in the former Little Wolf space, with The Carpenter’s Ruin taking over the adjoining site. It was formerly Mr Wolf , which was run by Karen Martini until 2021. Until four months ago it had been operating as a pizzeria.

“We always had a connection to the original site,” says McGouldrick. “They’re quite intertwined in their design, and a lot of our regulars who have been around since the Mr Wolf days remember fondly sneaking between the two.

“Once we had the opportunity to reunite the two and have a space that nodded towards what the original Mr Wolf site used to be for a lot of locals, we just kind of jumped on it.”

The Walrus now takes full advantage of The Carpenter’s bigger and better-equipped kitchen. “Before we were limited, we had hot plates and a small oven and now we have deep fryers, and full burners,” McGouldrick says. “It really just opens up possibilities with the food.”

But even though these two venues are as close as they’ve been since the Mr Wolf days, each has its own distinct character. “We wanted them to reference each other, but not be twins,” says McGouldrick. The Walrus – with its ochre walls, emerald tiles and moody lighting – very much looks like a wine bar. The Carpenter’s Ruin feels like the opposite: it’s cool, bright and breezy. “The pub is kind of St Kilda-themed,” says McGouldrick. “It’s all the things St Kilda is – nautical, a bit cheeky and silly.”

They’re two different venues that share the same spirit. Which is why McGouldrick and Webster named The Carpenter’s Ruin after The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll. In the poem, a walrus and a carpenter meet on a beach and conspire together to consume copious amounts of oysters. Sounds about right.

The Carpenter’s Ruin
15 Inkerman Street, St Kilda
(03) 7302 0131

Hours:
Mon to Thur 3pm–11pm
Fri to Sat midday–11pm
Sun midday–10pm

thecarpentersruin.com.au
@thecarpentersruin

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