Brick Lane’s huge new venue boasts 36 beer taps, a raw bar and views of Queen Vic Market

Indie darling brewery Brick Lane is inextricably linked to Queen Victoria Market. It tapped its first keg at the Winter Night Market in 2018, opened a low-key shed bar in String Bean Alley in 2020, and founder Paul Bowker even lives in the ’hood.

But the local craft beer brand’s latest market mission is its most ambitious yet.

After taking over the old Mercat Cross Hotel on the corner of Queen and Therry streets and opening a downstairs bar midyear, the site’s crowning glory – a 270-seat restaurant with 36 beer taps, a raw bar and a sunset terrace overlooking the market – is now open.

Called Brick Lane Market Upstairs, it’s decked out with wraparound windows that let the afternoon sun light up the polished concrete floors and statement green tiles.

Each menu item is listed alongside a suggested beer pairing from Brick Lane’s catalogue – from the core One Love Pale Ale to exclusive experimental “pilot-batch” brews – but Bowker wants to educate diners on just how flexible marrying beer and food can be.

“Very different beers will complement the same dish,” he explains. “Our light, crisp lager will match an oyster’s freshness. Or the other extreme is a rich, roasty stout that complements its salinity.”

You can try both variations – with freshly shucked oysters – at the stone-clad, 15-seat raw bar. Then survey a big glass cabinet full of the day’s seafood selection, on ice. You might find Ora King salmon with smoked ponzu or yuzu-splashed kingfish sashimi.

Beyond seafood, chef Ankit Padmani (ex-Indu, Mejico and Collins Quarter) is serving a market-to-plate menu with Asian flourishes that makes the most of next door’s bounty.

Want to feast? Secure the table with a lazy Susan and share nasu dengaku (miso-glazed eggplant) and pork belly slathered in gochujang and chilli caramel. Or hit the 150-person deck for sips and snacks in the sun, such as charcuterie from market trader Bill’s Farm and sourdough made by Cobb Lane Bakery with Brick Lane beer.

Brick Lane is the most recent in a string of Melbourne breweries upping their food game in a big way. Like Collingwood’s Molly Rose and Reservoir’s La Sirene, for Bowker, it’s about getting really good at the whole experience.

“It starts with beer, but you have to have a whole range: educated staff to guide you through [food] pairings, and things as simple as fantastic glassware, which is different for different beers.”

Open daily 11.30am-late.

Upstairs, 456 Queen Street, Melbourne, bricklanebrewing.com/brick-lane-market