Modern bistro Lekker! to open at 1 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Chef Rob Kabboord's sabbatical after a four-year stint at Sydney three-hatter Quay has come to an end. He's about to open pop-up bistro Lekker! in Melbourne's CBD.

"I got bored," says Kabboord, who'd been looking for a site for a permanent restaurant before the Hotel Windsor's Adi Halim offered him use of a space at 1 Bourke Street usually used for functions.

Dutch-born Kabboord is looking forward to cooking contemporary bistro dishes that hark back to his previous Melbourne restaurant, Merricote. The "set menu with flex" will be $85 for five courses, with choices for entrees and mains.

Lekker! (yummy in Dutch) opens on November 27, seating about 35. The 10-seat bar will have separate snacks menu – including bitterballen, a popular bar snack in the Netherlands.

Kabboord has enlisted manager Michael de Soet (ex-French Saloon) and German wing slinger Carl Schroder, who will pour some of the bottles he's been saving since Merricote closed in 2015.

Lekker! is expected to remain open at least until March and possibly for a year.

Open Fri 11.30am-3pm; Wed-Sat 5.30pm-10.30pm.

1 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 9633 6265, lekker.melbourne