Fonda heads to Flinders Lane

Fun-loving Fonda Mexican has just been named as the new neighbour to Cumulus Inc after beating off some stiff industry competition to secure the lease on 31 Flinders Lane - former home of the beleaguered Mercy Bar and before it, Virginia Plain.

Aiming for a March 2014 opening, Fonda's Tim McDonald, co-owner with David Youl, says he doesn't see himself competing for the same market as his sophisticated Flinders Lane neighbours. Instead, he's keen for Fonda Mark 3 to inject a bit of fun into the strip and ''fill a gap in the market for a quick, casual, affordable option'', with an eye on the workaday corporate crowd.

It will be one to watch as it's their third cantina in two years and big compared with their Richmond and Windsor venues, with a lease of $240,000 a year. An extensive refit by architects Techne will incorporate a bigger bar and a laneway-facing balcony in order to ''bring the space back to life'', McDonald says.

fondamexican.com.au

LEANNE CLANCEY