GG diner opens opposite the MCG

After a lengthy wait, residents of one of Melbourne's most exclusive apartment blocks now have their own downstairs diner. GG opened on the ground level of the apartment building at 150 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne on March 22. It's owned by chef Paul Dunlop (previously at St Katherine's), sommelier and manager Luca Montebelli (Fitzroy's Town Hall Hotel) and restaurateur and coffee company owner Rocky Veneziano. There's room for 130 diners in the wine bar and restaurant, where Dunlop is cooking food that is ''not too trendy, it's food we've always loved''. With a rotisserie and a wood-fired oven, there is one menu for the room throughout and you can buy a bottle of wine in the bottle shop and drink it in the restaurant for a $15 mark-up. Its name tips a hat to one G (the MCG opposite) and another (Veneziano's grandfather Giuseppe). GG is open Monday to Friday from 11am to late and for breakfast, lunch and dinner on weekends.

Hilary McNevin