Beloved Melbourne eatery, the Stokehouse, could rise from the ashes as soon as this weekend.
A temporary structure - a "pop-up" version of the iconic restaurant - could be built in time for the St Kilda festival this weekend, with Port Phillip Council voting on Tuesday night to fast-track approval of the project.
Deputy mayor Serge Thomann said this meant the "pop-up" Stokehouse could be up and running by Sunday, the last day of the St Kilda Festival "even if it's just a sausage and sauce, not in your usual style".
The temporary structure will sit on the original site and will be in a single-storey marquee style with outdoor seating.
What the temporary Stokehouse restaurant will look like.
The Van Haandel Group later released a statement saying the new Stokehouse Pop-Up would be open for Valentine’s Day, with a spokeswoman not ruling out a preview at the St Kilda Festival this weekend.
“We hope to have a presence this Sunday at the St Kilda Festival but are unable to confirm at this stage,” a spokeswoman for the Van Haandel Group said.
She said the Stokehouse Pop-Up would be a reflection of both the Stokehouse Restaurant and downstairs' Stokehouse Café.
The signature dessert dish 'The Bombe' would be included on the new menu, she said.
The pop-up will be open seven days from February 14 until May 11, she said.
The popular fine dining restaurant and cafe was destroyed on January 17, after a blaze ripped through the two-storey building on a busy Friday night, leaving 200 guests and staff just minutes to escape from the burning structure.
The fire originated in the kitchen from fat build-up in the flue over the griddle and rotisserie and quickly spread through the two-storey building.
Just days after the inferno saw the heritage building razed flat, Planning Minister Matthew Guy announced a pop-up restaurant would be built temporarily in its place "to see it able to operate until the process of approving a permanent structure goes through".
The pop-up restaurant, and the permanent building that comes after it, will be run by the Van Haandel Group, which in 2011 signed a a 21-year lease over the site.
The Stokehouse sat on crown land, and the state government and the replacement building will be paid for largely by insurance policies the restaurant and government held over the property.
The Van Haandels' extensive business interests include Stokehouse Q in Brisbane, Fatto at Hamer Hall, Mr Tulk at the State Library of Victoria and Comme.
In September, it was announced they would takeover running the fine dining restaurant at the Sydney Opera House.
with Chris Hingston