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In case you missed it: Melbourne cafe, bar and restaurant openings for January 2018

Gemima Cody & Roslyn Grundy

Panko-crumbed fish sandwich with tartare and chips at the newly renovated Transport Bar at Fed Square.
Panko-crumbed fish sandwich with tartare and chips at the newly renovated Transport Bar at Fed Square.Kristoffer Paulsen

A rash of new openings broke out around Melbourne during the silly season. Here are some of the highlights since you've been gone.

Burger Project

Neil Perry's latest Burger Project ranges over two storeys in Melbourne's Bourke Street. The menu follows the same format as the chain's previous branches – burgers, fries and shakes – with a few tweaks. It's licensed, there's a self-serve soda dispenser, and there's a limited-edition series of burgers, which changes every eight weeks, starting with The Mexican, loaded with chilli salsa, guacamole, lettuce, tomato and sour cream. Until January 28, the kitchen will also be flipping Vegemite Burgers – Burger Project's signature grass-fed beef patty on a Vegemite-slathered bun.

The mural uncovered during renovatons at Palermo.
The mural uncovered during renovatons at Palermo.Kristoffer Paulsen
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555 Bourke Street, Melbourne, burgerproject.com

Duke of Kerr

What used to be Backstreet cafe, opposite Napier Quarter in Fitzroy, has been taken over by a couple of South Melbourne cafe veterans, Mark Richardson (St Ali, Dead Man Espresso) and chef Evan Clark from St Ali. The breakfast menu puts spicy 'nduja-spread sourdough with broad beans and burrata alongside house-made granolas. Dinner is now in swing too, offering steaks, pork cutlets and saffron gnocchi. Producer dinners and masterclasses in the bluestone cellar are on the cards, too.

Anzac marshmallow sandwich at Ratio Cocoa Roasters, Brunswick.
Anzac marshmallow sandwich at Ratio Cocoa Roasters, Brunswick.Alex Drewniak

152 Kerr Street, Fitzroy, 03 9417 1212, dukeofkerr.com.au

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Harley & Rose

The west side story is unfolding further. The Victoria Hotel has reopened under Anthony Hammond of Builders Arms fame and on the old Ovest site, two ex-McConnell group chefs (Rory Cowcher​ and Josh Murphy) have opened Harley and Rose, doing contempo bistro food and a couple of pizzas fuelled by their wood-fired hearth. They're also doing the wine bar/bottle-o thing to boot.

The newly renovated Transport Bar in Fed Square.
The newly renovated Transport Bar in Fed Square.Kristoffer Paulsen

572 Barkly Street, West Footscray, 03 8320 0325, harleyandrose.net.au

Ishizuka

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A new kaiseki restaurant has opened on Bourke Street. Kaiseki, you'll know from The Table at Kisume and also Kappo, refers to a structured Japanese degustation prepared in front of usually a handful of diners – there is always a vinegared element, a rice course, a course of "pretty things". The chef presiding over this new Bourke Street 16-seater is Tomotaka Ishizuka, formerly the head chef at Koko in Crown, and the wine list has been compiled by former Rockpool and Spice Temple somm David Lawler. It's $215 a head (wine matches from $110 a head and non-alcoholic matches $55), open Tuesday to Sunday.

Sakisui (scampi, junsai akita, yuzu, bonito and kobu broth) at Melbourne kaiseki restaurant Ishizuka.
Sakisui (scampi, junsai akita, yuzu, bonito and kobu broth) at Melbourne kaiseki restaurant Ishizuka.Supplied

Basement, 139 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 8594 0895, ishizuka.com.au

Offsite

A new espresso bar and gallery space has opened on Little Napier Street, Fitzroy, run by Patrick Eddy, who previously had Eddy's in Collingwood. The menu is as tight as the place is luminously white: espresso coffees, cold drip and two liquid breakfasts in the form of smoothies packed with kale and coconut water. You can also get Eddy's mum's choc chip cookies and a gluten-free version. Exhibitions will happen regularly – right now it's a street photography. Designers and musicians: you can also rent the spot for events.

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44 Little Napier Street, Fitzroy

Palermo

Renovating the site of their fourth venue, the team behind San Telmo, Pastuso and Che hoped to uncover red bricks. Instead, they found a bucolic mural, a legacy of the former Marchetti's Tuscan Grill. It's now a decor feature of Palermo, where, despite the Italian name, the meat-focused taps contemporary Argentinian roots, courtesy of an asado fire pit. Former Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year Ollie Gould (ex-Stokehouse) has returned from Perth to stoke the fires. At lunch, he's serving six courses for $40.

401 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 9002 1600, palermo.melbourne

Q Le Baker

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No questioning the credentials of Prahran Market's new bakery. It's a collaboration between Stephen Sam, Quentin Berthonneau and Marion Obio David, who have been instrumental in the likes of Baker D. Chirico, Chez Dre and Bibelot. Bread is the focus – sourdoughs and loaves using locally sourced whole grain flours. All of the action is on display behind glass windows, and the front area is serving a French-ish menu of sandwiches, cakes and small platters to eat in with a beer.

Shop 709, Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Road, South Yarra, 03 9973 3069

Ratio Cocoa Roasters

You've heard of paddock-to-plate dining. Now Brunswick welcomes bean-to-bar chocolate. Ratio Cocoa Roasters is the fulfilment of a dream held by Debbie Makin, a zoologist who fell in love with the cocoa trade while travelling in Africa, Peru and the Solomon Islands. Using traditional chocolate-making techniques and sourcing small batches of single-origin cacao beans, Makin creates handcrafted chocolate bars highlighting individual flavours. Ratio Cocoa Roasters hosts behind-the-scenes chocolate tours and serves house-made chocolate drinks and sweet treats to eat in or take away.

186 Sydney Road, Brunswick, 03 9388 8920, ratiococoa.com.au

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Transport Bar

Transport Bar, aka "that big place in Feb Square opposite the station", has had a multimillion-dollar reno downstairs adding a new greenery-filled seating area and a more diner-friendly space to the three-tiered venue, where you'll also find Taxi Kitchen. The hope is to draw more diners in for their pubby food offering of wood-fired pizza, charcuterie, schnitzels and spiced lamb ribs.

Ground level, Transport Hotel, Federation Square, 03 9654 8808, transporthotel.com.au

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