Uncle's downstairs bar becomes Uncle Downtown

• The 'hot and new list': Uncle

The boys from Uncle in St Kilda East have lightened, brightened and reworked the ground-floor of their two-level Carlisle Street venue. Since they opened 12 months ago, business partners chef Dai Duong and front-of-house manager Rene Spence have run the downstairs space as a moody bar and a bright buzzy rooftop as a restaurant. But "the two spaces had a split personality that wasn't working," says Spence.

They brought in city-based studio Foolscap to revamp the ground floor interior, creating Uncle Downtown with a bright ceiling treatment (repurposed food covers), timber and colour. The separate Downtown menu includes banh mi, ricepaper rolls and pork belly or chicken skewers from the new custom-made coal pit and there's a short drinks list. A takeaway menu will be available from the front window.

Uncle Downtown will launch on Friday, October 10 and be open Thursday to Saturday from 5pm at 188 Carlisle Street, St Kilda East.