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There are few people in Melbourne more influential on our bar culture than Gerald Diffey and his longtime business partner Mario Di Ienno. Their venue Gerald’s Bar on Rathdowne Street in Carlton North (with a sister venue in San Sebastian, Spain), has come to define the Melbourne approach to the casual, personal, neighbourhood wine bar, something I think we do better than almost any city in the world.
But after operating out of a tiny shopfront for nearly 20 years, Gerald’s bar has moved, finding a new home on Lygon Street about a kilometre away, in the building previously occupied by Enoteca Sileno (where, incidentally, Gerald was the manager 23 years ago). The new digs opened doors to the public for the first time last Wednesday, and I took the opportunity to pop in for a Negroni and a chat with the venue’s eponymous co-owner.
Walking through the big double stained-glass entrance and then the automatic sliding doors beyond, first impressions can best be summed up by the phrase, “shit, this is big.” No longer are you greeted by Gerald leaning casually on the front door, or perhaps having a smoke at a table out front, but by a host station and a wide expanse of bar, with booth seating to the left and a full dining room around to the right. There’s also a big courtyard out the back canopied in grapevines, an upstairs function bar with an adjoining balcony, and several private dining areas. Yeah, like, big.
“We were just squashing people together at the old joint,” says Gerald. “If you try to come in with six people, you’re out of luck. Now we can be generous with the space,” he says. Standing on the upstairs balcony, he points out the impressive view, “When it’s all open like this, it’s just gorgeous,” Gerald says. “You can see the city, you can see the Dandenongs, you can see Fitzroy Town Hall. This building is pretty special, and it was completely under-utilised.”
A big part of the new offering will be a full service dining experience with an a-la-carte menu by long-time Gerald’s chef Pete Savage along with new hire Matt Podbury (formerly of Geelong bistro La Cachette). “These days, I struggle to know where to go and eat well for a reasonable price,” Gerald says. “People are saying [they] don’t want to spend 48 bucks on a main course that feels the same wherever you go. The bar menu here will be the same pricing as it always has been,” he continues, “and the a la carte menu will be a set price, probably about $125 for five courses.”
On to the philosophy behind the dining experience Gerald says they’re doing one sitting. “So you make a reservation, you come when you want, you sit when you want,” he says. “No out-bys, just old school hospitality.”
At this point, our conversation is interrupted by an older couple who approach Gerald to share some good news. “Our son just got a Michelin star for his restaurant [Bridges in New York City],” the gentleman says. “He’s been supported long and hard by Gerald,” they tell me, beaming, “so we’ve come in for a celebratory drink.” The interaction seems to me a pretty good encapsulation of what Gerald’s bar means to this community, and this industry.
I leave Gerald to attend to the jazz records spinning in the corner (the sound system is ace) while I sidle back up to the bar to drink my Negroni. I chase it with a pint of Sailor’s Grave IPA paired with a plate of good white anchovies and that same delicious brown bread they’ve always served. The front bar has a much more pubby feel than old Gerald’s, with several beer taps and a long, curving, overhung by a huge, custom-built shelf in the shape of a WWI biplane, the copper edges of its wings gleaming in the evening light that streams through the big front windows.
Photos by Fred Siggins.
Mario cuts an unmistakable silhouette as he materialises through the sliding doors, and joins me at the bar. “It sure is big!” I say. “I know!” he says. “Even we were surprised by the scale of it. But isn’t it beautiful?” He grins, leaning in to hold my eye. “Now all I need is to sleep for a week,” he laughs. I reckon he’s earned it.
I’ve heard many people in the Melbourne hospo scene lament the loss of the original Gerlad’s location — its intimacy, its immediate feeling of warmth — and wonder aloud if this newer, bigger, shinier version can retain those things that made Gerald’s so special. Maybe it will, and maybe it won’t, at least not in the same way. But things change.
I’ve written a lot recently about the idea of change and evolution in hospitality, and Melbourne is certainly experiencing a season of flux. It would be easy for Gerald and Mario, as so many successful hospo operators have done, to sit back on their piles of awards and just coast through to retirement, playing the hits they always have to a loyal audience. But fuck that. These guys still have some gas left in the old tank, and a lot left to show us about how hospitality is done well, big venue or small. And with Melbourne bars being not just stirred up, but thoroughly shaken, I’m excited to see what happens when the froth settles.
Around The Bars
Meanwhile, back on Rathdowne Street… It’s been announced that the old Gerald’s Bar space at 386 Rathdowne in Carlton North will be taken over by the team from Fitzroy restaurant Carnation Canteen, led by chef Audrey Shaw. The venue will reopen next year as Bar Carnation, a more casual sibling to Carnation Canteen.
And just a few doors up, the Kent Hotel, which Gerald also ran for a time, has been taken over and revamped as The Northside Social with a new menu and drinks offering, reopened last Thursday. Operated by the team behind Kensington’s Hardimans Hotel, the fitout has seen a major upgrade along with new features like big TVs for watching the cricket, dry-aged steaks for sharing, and a cocktail list that’s pretty ambitious for a neighborhood pub that includes things like brown butter fatwashed whisky and house made gochujang and beetroot cordial.
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Boothby Staff
