Fitzroy newcomer Oko combines Med plates and a positive kitchen culture

A new Mediterranean-influenced restaurant, Oko, opened last week in Fitzroy on the site of Hell of the North, which closed in March.

Front-of-house manager Sebastian Pasinetti has opened the 70-seater with his mother Luciana Pasinetti, who is overseeing the kitchen and bringing her Italian heritage to the menu and service.

"We've always had people over at our house for dinner, and that's what we are trying to replicate in the restaurant," explains Sebastian.

He encourages diners to order many small dishes, the way you might graze at home, whether it's chef Kim-maree Moore's scallops with red grape and basil salsa or crumbed halloumi with zhoug, a coriander and chilli-based Yemeni sauce.

Crowd favourites include spicy Mediterranean fried chicken with zhoug mayonnaise and Roaring Forties lamb cutlets with smoked eggplant.

The restaurant prioritises its team's mental health with a formal policy that includes a traffic light system so staff can rate their headspace before they start a shift. Oko also closes for two consecutive days so staff are guaranteed a break each week. Pasinetti was inspired by his time working at Kelly's Cause Foundation in London, which focuses on mental health training for hospitality.

"I noticed that the industry was not the best for a healthy work-life balance. I wanted to come home and open my own restaurant that had that better structure and balance," he says.

Oko also claims to be one of Melbourne's only restaurants with a kitchen of entirely female or queer staff. Pasinetti says that meeting UK chef Asma Khan, who says her women-run restaurant Darjeeling Express has an entirely different team culture, was a lightbulb moment.

The Pasinettis have updated the dining room with light grey walls, dark green banquettes and upholstered bar stools, and devil's ivy in the cornices.

Open for dinner Tue-Sat 5.30pm-11pm, lunch Sat noon-3pm

135 Greeves Street, Fitzroy, 03 9041 9177, okorestaurant.com.au