Stop press: the Melbourne restaurants to watch for in 2017

Watch this space: these are the Melbourne restaurants we'll be tracking in the next edition of The Age Good Food Guide.

Albert Park Hotel, Albert Park

Design firm Six Degrees is giving the Albert Park Hotel a thorough makeover, ready for a spring 2017 reboot. At press time, there was no word on the food direction.

Butcher's Diner, Melbourne

The European group is turning the Sushi Masa site at the top of Bourke Street into a meat-focused steakhouse and burger joint. ETA November 2016.

Chris Lucas' Japanese restaurant, Melbourne

The man who made queueing in Flinders Street a thing is planning a three-storey venue housing two Japanese restaurants a few doors down from Chin Chin. Shaun Presland, who spent more than a decade working in Japanese kitchens, will oversee the ground-floor and basement restaurant. Upstairs will be a separate contemporary omakase​ restaurant. It's expected to open in April 2017.

Embla upstairs, Melbourne

Hold your breath a little longer, Embla fans. The yet-to-be-named restaurant to fill the upper floor of the hugely popular Russell Street wine bar is being renovated at Christmas, aiming for a March 2017 opening. The plan is still loose, but expect lots of European wines.

Honcho, Melbourne

Adam Liston has teamed up with Hotel Windsor owners the Halim Group on Honcho, a 60-seat Korean-Japanese-Chinese restaurant at 18 Punch Lane, Melbourne, opening late October 2016.

Kirk's Public Bar, Melbourne

Chef Ian Curley and restaurateurs Con Christopoulos and Josh Brisbane are opening a pub in Little Bourke Street, next to their Hardware Lane corner venues Kirk's Wine Bar and French Saloon. Due September 2016.

Lawyers Guns & Money, Melbourne

After opening as an Asian breakfast canteen in February 2016, Lee Ho Fook offshoot Lawyers Guns & Money is reworking the concept to include nights. It will reopen in a bigger CBD space in early 2017.

Long Chim, Southbank

David Thompson brings Thai street food to Melbourne, opening the third Australian branch of his Long Chim chain in the former No. 8 site at Crown in January or February 2017.

It's going to be all about the open-air tree-covered terrace at this long-awaited upstairs chapter to Longrain, due for a February 2017 debut. Expect Thai-ish drinking food from chef David Moyle of Hobart's Franklin, Australian beers and wines and classic cocktails.

Pure South, Southbank

After a big renovation, riverfront restaurant Pure South Dining aims to reopen in November 2016 from breakfast until supper in a more relaxed two-level space. The interior (raw wooden surfaces, natural colours, stone textures) and food will take their cues from Tasmania.

Stokehouse, St Kilda

After a devastating fire at the beachside landmark in 2014, Stokehouse St Kilda mark II will be unveiled in October 2016. It's a two-stage process, with a 350-seat casual dining room called Pontoon downstairs opening in October. Upstairs dining room and bar Stokehouse will open for all-day dining from December 6. Head chef Ollie Hansford (Stokehouse City) and executive chef Richard Ousby (of Stokehouse Q in Brisbane) will oversee the kitchen. Paper Fish, a kiosk selling fish and chips, will be open during daylight savings (October to April).

Wilson & Merchant, Prahran

The Age Good Food Guide's Chef of the Year in 2002, Paul Wilson, is finally opening a place of his own, around December 2016. Wilson & Merchant will be a mod-Oz offering based on wood-grilled and rotisseried heritage-breed meats and vegetables, and a crustacean bar.