“More Is More”: The New Age of Rathdowne Street, With the Bar Bellamy and Melitta Next Door Team

Rathdowne Street takes you off Melbourne’s busy arterial roads to an area much slower and more picturesque. With a leafy median strip and filigree verandahs, it’s not as busy as neighbouring Lygon Street – but still has plenty of reasons to visit.

“Everyone’s friendly and, being a country bumpkin, that’s definitely something I look for when I’m working,” Dani Whitehart says.

She moved to Melbourne from the Northern Rivers 14 years ago, and soon after met Oska Whitehart while he was bartending at The Carlton Club. The couple have lived together in Fitzroy North for a decade, just a stone’s throw from their venues Bar Bellamy and Melitta Next Door on Rathdowne Street.

Bar Bellamy came first, opening in April 2023 and serving classic European fare. With a name derived from the French term for “dear friend” (bel ami), the venue has always been intended as a comfortable neighbourhood bar and second home.

“Somewhere that you can bring a date if you want to feel a little fancy,” Oska says, “but you could also bring Mum and Dad.”

Two years later, they opened a new bar in the adjacent corner spot. While there’s some crossover, Melitta gives off younger sibling vibes. “A bit more fun, a bit looser,” Dani says.

Melitta’s eternal Euro summer vibe is thanks to guest DJs, hand-painted tiles, warm yellow lights and a welcoming host in Dani. The venue serves $14 Meli-To cocktails with fried flatbread and arrosticini skewers from a Mediterranean barbeque menu by head chef Lorena Corso.

The Whiteharts can’t take full credit for animating this quieter stretch of Rathdowne, opposite a primary school and public housing. South of Princes Street, it’s just outside of what the council officially deems Rathdowne Village in Carlton North.

Fenton, the now-closed Tanaka Co-Op (both by Nesbert Kagonda and Ruby Clark), Italian restaurant Capitano, and French bistro Paris Go were already attracting locals and visitors to the area before Bellamy arrived, alongside other longstanding establishments.

“When we first [opened], there was The Olive Jar,” Oska says, with fond memories of the owners’ impromptu Frank Sinatra renditions. “Sadly, [it’s] since closed, but they were here for 40-plus years.” Dani adds, “It felt like a bit of that old guard moving on, which was a bit sad.”

Newcomers such as Super Norma and Cordelia have since added to the area’s new wave of hospitality venues. To that, Dani says: “More is more”.

Nowadays, Capitano and Super Norma are the team’s go-tos for a quick pizza or pasta between double shifts. For coffee, it’s Fenton or Sunhands on nearby Elgin Street. The word is also out about Oska’s favourite underrated gem, Sushi Ten. “They also kept us alive during the build of Bar Bellamy,” Dani says.

As more wine bars, neighbourhood cafes and all-day eateries open, there’s the possibility of the beloved street becoming a fiercely competitive hospitality precinct. But Dani sees it differently. “It’s definitely not a rivalry at all. It just brings more people to the strip, and more people can get more out of this area,” she says.

For the pair, the key to staying alive in a busy area isn’t competition – it’s compassion.

“You do genuinely have to care,” Dani says. “That passion for [hospitality] is really contagious, and I think then people want you to succeed. They want to come in and support you because they want to make sure that space doesn’t go.”

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Square.