Cumulus loses its cool

It's food festival time and Melbourne is enduring a record-breaking run of 30-plus degree days; not the best time for one of the city's most popular restaurants to experience a power outage.

That was the story at Cumulus Inc on the weekend when a blown fuse forced the restaurant and upstairs bar at the top end of Flinders Lane to close – during the peak of Saturday-night service no less. The outage also forced the cancellation of a performance by KAGE Dance Theatre (catered for by Cumulus Inc) in the gallery space below at fortyfivedownstairs.

Cumulus Inc general manager Oliver Shorthouse said his team was forced to call it a night after one of the building's three fuses blew about 6.30pm and caused the restaurant's air-conditioning to shut down.

"Luckily we still had power to the fridges and cooking appliances so we managed to feed those who had begun their meals," said Shorthouse. He said surrounding "friendly" restaurants including Coda, Bar Lourinha and Andrew McConnell stablemate Cutler & Co helped out by accommodating hungry diners – many of them visiting from interstate – who suddenly found themselves out on the street.

Cumulus Inc was full with 60 diners booked in at the time of the power failure. Shorthouse said that while the power company arrived within the hour, the age of the blown fuse meant it took time to source a replacement and get the power back. "We were up and running again by about 9pm but we called it a night."

Shorthouse said he expected any losses would be covered by insurance but he lamented that several big names in town for the food festival, including Fairfax's Sydney-based food writers Jill Dupleix and Terry Durack, had to join the crowds milling outside rather than check out Cumulus Inc's new bar space, UP.

Shorthouse said it was the first time Cumulus Inc had been forced to close in four-and-a-half years. "Saturday night is always a big night for us and we would have expected to be full both upstairs and downstairs all evening ... But we've had a pretty good run."