March, the casual bar from hatted restaurant Ides, reopens in Collingwood with a whole new look

It's taken two-and-a-half years, one stint as a pop-up and three months of renovations, but March, the new bar from two-hatted restaurant Ides chef Peter Gunn, is finally open for good.

The 26-seat Collingwood bar, next door to its sister restaurant, is now a much sleeker space than the orange and black precursor that opened earlier this year for several weeks.

Gunn says the pop-up version showed them a more casual Ides spin-off worked. "We gave it everything we would have if it was a fully finished space." Food came from Ides' kitchen, wines from sommelier Hayley McCarthy, and sake and sherry were a focus.

That's the offer this time around, but backed up by designs from Grant Cheyne (Spice Temple, Melbourne's Rockpool), originally drawn up in January 2020.

Slate-coloured walls, dark timber furniture and brass accents play supporting role to a carpet that's louder than a KISS cover band. With a linear pattern of thick bands of toffee, cream and grey, it covers not just the floor but also creeps up the front of the bar. This is topped by a large slab of marble in similar tones, which measures wider and lower than your average bar-top, giving an expansive feel to the space.

Izakaya-style plates include small items such as pickled cucumbers dressed with two-year-aged soy, sake-steamed Goolwa pipis in yuzu-parsley butter or sweet-and-sour quail. Purin, creme caramel's Japanese cousin, is paired with peach syrup.

McCarthy's drinks list aims at the casual beer drinker through to the sake lover or wine insider. "We want to be for the people and be a neighbourhood bar," she says.

There are five classic cocktails, from Eastsides to negronis, made almost exclusively with Australian spirits plus house-made sodas and syrups.

At the rear of the space is Ides' first private dining room, with seating for 14 people and a statement carpet of its own that channels Jackson Pollock artwork and Rorschach tests.

Open Wed-Sun 6pm-late from Friday, August 26.

March, 90 Smith Street, Collingwood, 0432 365 869, marchmelbourne.com.au