An intimate wine bar, Kirk’s feels like it’s been around forever, and could easily be dropped inconspicuously onto the streets of Paris. Expect cutting-edge small-make wines from around the world matched with smart takes on classic bistro food, along with impeccable cheese and charcuterie.
On the site of Kirk’s Bazaar Hotel, one of the city’s oldest pubs, Christopoulos has applied his typical eye for detail and craftsmanship in a decidedly compact site, creating a wine bar that is so European in a distinctly Melbourne way, while simultaneously feeling long established and en pointe right now. This sense of belonging is felt right through, from the shoulder-to-shoulder Parisian-style terrace seating to the transporting cocoon of the cellar to the curved timber bar that welcomes you in a warm embrace.
Although an essentially petite venue Kirk’s Wine Bar still manages to carry just shy of 300 bottlings, spanning the globe and walking down paths both familiar and highly innovative. The by-the-glass offering is fluid, with some premium pours dispensed via Coravin. Working principally with smaller importers of European wines, and often favouring less-familiar regions, Kirk’s Wine Bar also delves deeply into what is making the Australian wine scene so interesting right now, with offerings from Arfion, Owen Latta and Patrick Sullivan, for example.
Business partner Ian Curley and new head chef Luke Fraser’s mostly French inspired menu has a strong charcuterie/oyster/cheese game, shifting the carte from lunch to dinner, with more substantial offerings, too. Food is served all day, with last orders taken an hour before closing.
While 2004 is hardly that long ago, it is in the veritable mists of time in respect to how much the wine-dispensing game has changed in Melbourne. Back then, James Broadway, an importer of Italian wine and Slow Food evangelist, and chef Brigitte Hafner, who had worked with Neil Perry, Kylie Kwong, Guy Grossi, Greg…
Mick and Sarah Dowling moved to Torquay with their two daughters in 2015 and have seen great change and growth – which encouraged them to act on their serious interest in wine and open the Torquay Wine Store in 2022. They modelled this venture on their favourite places to eat and drink in Melbourne, which combined a bottle shop and wine bar, where everything on the shelf was available to either take away or drink in.
From a single site adjacent to the Princes Theatre, business partners Con Christopoulos and Josh Brisbane have – over the course of a decade or two – acquired the entire Spring Street frontage up to the lane that borders the Imperial Hotel. Starting with the European and Melbourne Supper Club – which saved a whole…
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