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Thai restaurant Magic Mountain Saloon to open in former Irish pub in Little Collins Street

Hilary McNevin

Barring unexpected delays, Magic Mountain Saloon will finally open on Wednesday at 5pm. It's taken longer than expected to transform the former Bridie O'Reilly's Irish pub into a 200-seat Thai restaurant – it was initially slated to open last July. "It's had the gestation of an elephant," says chef Karen Batson, who has teamed up again with Carlo Ippoliti on the project (the pair also run Thai diner Cookie, Boney and music venues The Toff in Town and Revolver).

Magic Mountain Saloon will open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even the breakfast menu is Thai-driven, says Batson, with dishes such as coconut pikelets and kanom jeen, the classic Thai breakfast noodle dish. Lunch and dinner will be built around barbecued meats and dishes that meld Batson's Anglo roots with the Thai style she's developed over the past 12 years. An example? Deep-fried scotch egg coated with chicken and kaffir lime, which plays on the Thai son-in-law egg, "is where these two cultures find their marriage", says Batson.

The space is tall and thin, "like a vertical Cookie", with lots of natural light and steel mesh. It has two bar areas, a mezzanine level and three entrances – two on Little Collins Street and one around the corner on Westwood Place.

Magic Mountain Saloon is at 62 Little Collins Street, Melbourne.

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