After 36 years, one of Melbourne’s most celebrated landmark restaurants is about to change hands, passing from the family that built it – twice – into one of the country’s more dynamic restaurant groups. Frank, Sharon and Hugh van Haandel are selling Stokehouse to Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann, the owners of Trader House restaurants, handing over the keys this October.
“We feel incredibly privileged to become the next custodians of Stokehouse,” says McConnell. “It’s played such a pivotal role in shaping the city’s hospitality landscape. Its reputation for exceptional food, warm service and memorable experiences in Melbourne’s best restaurant location has earned it a special place in the hearts of locals and visitors alike. There is nowhere else like Stokehouse.”
It’s a full-circle moment for McConnell in some respects; he headed the kitchen at Circa, the Prince, over the road in its 2000s heyday under the van Haandels’ management, and Frank and Sharon were early supporters of his Cutler restaurant back when it first opened.
McConnell says his intention is not to change what makes Stokehouse special. “We have enormous respect for its history and for the team that has helped shape it,” he says. “We’re inheriting strong foundations, and we’re committed to investing in its future while preserving the qualities and the people that have made it so well loved.”
Frank van Haandel says he believes the current team – Hugh van Haandel, chef Jason Staudt, general manager Lee Smith and sommelier Will Martin – has led the restaurant to its greatest successes, and will close this chapter on a high. “The Stokehouse is the best it’s ever been. It’s the quintessential Australian seaside restaurant, and I couldn’t hand it to better people than Andrew and Jo.”
The Stokehouse announcement comes at a time when McConnell, McGann and Trader House already have plenty going on; they’re opening Côte Basque, their first new Melbourne restaurant in six years, on Crossley Street on the former Becco site, in a little over a week.
Stokehouse, 30 Jacka Blvd, St Kilda, stokehouse.com.au