Embla team will open Melbourne restaurant Lesa in August

The Embla team finally has a name and an opening date for their long-awaited Melbourne restaurant. Lesa will open in August.

Owners Dave Verheul and Christian McCabe have been working on the restaurant above their CBD wine bar for the past two years, with the search for a name seemingly as time-consuming as the build.

Like Embla, Lesa is a Norse word, this time meaning "gathering place". But where Embla is loud and casual with dishes designed for sharing, Lesa will be slower-paced, with a four-course set menu, along with an express, two-course option for theatregoers and business lunches.

"You spend the evening at Lesa, whereas Embla is more of a place on the way to or from another place," says McCabe.

Like downstairs, the menu will be touched by flames: a large wood-fired hearth, flanked by green tiles, is the kitchen's engine. Expect dishes like cacio e pepe made from semi-dried potato, topped with basil and pecorino cheese, and desserts like ile flottante (poached meringue and custard) with salted bergamot, walnut and koji (a fungus used to ferment sake).

Sommelier Raffaele Maestrovincenzo is helping McCabe with the wine list: think local and minimal-intervention for the most part, with a range of Old World vintages thrown in.

As for the space, the dining room will continue the rustic-yet-refined theme of Embla, with dark-stained timber ceiling and floors, exposed brick walls, black steel-framed windows and wooden banquette seating. There will also be round tables for larger groups.

Open lunch Thu-Fri; dinner Wed-Sat.

Level 2, 122 Russell Street, Melbourne