Insider: news

Food trends and restaurant news.

1 INES WINE BAR (above) is a handsome new lounge in Melbourne’s Windsor, with a focus on Italian drops, old-school cocktails and hearty small plates. Melbourne restaurateur Matteo Bruno looked to his nonagenarian grandmother for cookery inspiration. The menu bounces from fried stuffed olives to veal meatballs to bistecca with roasted potatoes. A croque ‘signore’ is filled with three cheeses and aged prosciutto. Techne Architects fashioned a moody space from solid walnut, aged brass and Italian marble. 2 After more than two decades in Brisbane’s CBD, E’CCO BISTRO (above) has been reborn at Newstead’s Haven complex. Chef Philip Johnson and partner Mary Randles took the opportunity to install an enormous kitchen with a Brazilian grill, and tap Twohill and James to conceive the interior with leather seating, oak joinery and touches of marble. New signature dishes include sugarloaf cabbage with miso, coal-grilled whole market fish, and rhubarb and apple pastilla. 3 Sydney’s Orient Hotel is looking to its storied past with new lounge MRS. JONES (above right). Named for 19th-century publican Jane Jones, the space features wicker furniture, flora studies on the walls, and a sunlit terrace. Chef Brad Copeland is dishing up crowd-pleasers such as lamb croquettes and pork belly with roasted beetroot. Founded in 1897, The Rocks institution still appears remarkably fresh.