Just Open: 25 Toorak Road, South Yarra

After opening Hagger's – one of the first restaurants in Flinders Lane's rag-trade district – then ultimately moving it to South Yarra, and a 10-year hiatus from hospitality, charismatic chef and serial restaurateur Denis Hagger is back in town running his new restaurant and Champagne bar. Agrapart blanc de blancs anyone?

Slate tiles pave the way to a rear bar overlooking a vine-lined atrium that feels more like an intimate club.

In the light-filled dining room, finessed bistro classics and good-value drinking salute Italy and France. Expect spaghetti tangled in scampi, confit duck and lemon souffle. Even tea arrives in a gold-rimmed Limoges cup with soft nougat on the side.

It's an elegant space. Gilt-framed 18th-century lithographs lift the charcoal and white fit-out. Antiques from Italy, Belgium and France feature throughout but don't clutter. Large linen-set tables, luxury Ralph Lauren furnishings and Hagger's brand of old-school hospitality really do make it easy to linger longer.

Open daily, noon till late.

25 Toorak Road, South Yarra, 9821 4425, 25toorakroad.com