Leonard's House of Love team opens Ramblr in South Yarra

The team behind fried chicken temple Leonard's House of Love has stepped up with Ramblr, a new Euro-focused smart-casual diner on Chapel Street.

Proprietors Nick Stanton, Guy Bentley and John Harper are a hands-on bunch. They built their Nordic-accented 80-seat dining room flying by the seat of their chef's whites. "We just started in one corner and ended in another," says Stanton.

The boys spent months pulling down the ceiling of an old pizza shop to expose timber beams, and installing two chestnut wood bars (one in front of an open kitchen, the other facing a cocktail bar) and a stylish raised dining room with soft blue banquettes.

Stanton is making everything he can in-house: kimchi from a seven-day ferment meets finely shaved calamari tossed in bone marrow in a dish inspired by instant ramen and soft French cheese is set in a panna cotta-like blancmange for a savoury-sweet dessert that looks like Pac-Man thanks to the clever placement of a strawberry jus.

There's a lunch menu of deli-style sandwiches and salads that moves towards more refined share plates at nigh, and celeb sommelier Matt Skinner has advised on the drinks list, which covers everything from local tinnies to French orange wines.

Open Tue-Thu noon-10.30pm, Fri-Sun noon-11pm.

363 Chapel Street, South Yarra, 03 9827 0949, ramblr.com.au