A beachy new diner downstairs and a summer-long collab with Pidapipo are just the beginning of Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann’s plans for St Kilda. The pair bought Stokehouse earlier this year from the founding Van Haandel family and on 26 October they swing open the doors on Marea Beach House and Bar, where, a spokesperson says, the food takes its cues from the easy, generous style of beachside dining across Southern Europe in the summer.
In practice that’s looking pretty tasty: some signature McConnell whipped cod roe up the top of the menu with flatbread, and quite a few things that speak to his passion for all things Spain, whether it’s the Gildas, the taste of Mallorca in the sobrasada spreadable sausage on toast with honey, or the classic octopus, potato chorizo situation.
But before you go labelling it Cote Basque St Kilda, pause a moment to reflect on the appeal of the more Italian side of the offer, whether it’s fritto misto, arrosticini, the baked pipe rigate with tomato and ‘nduja, or the spaghetti vongole, plus the more freewheeling likes of the burger, the tuna tostadas and the crudités with labne.
“We both have fond memories of Stokehouse, as I think many people in Melbourne do,” says McConnell. “It’s a remarkable place with so much history. With Stokehouse upstairs, it’s about taking care of what is already special and giving it new energy. Downstairs gives us an opportunity to do something quite different.”
That translates to Stokehouse reopening with a new look and a new seafood-focused menu on 3 November. We’re talking mud crab with white asparagus, Marcona almonds and brown butter, flounder with kombu butter, and dory with mussels, red mullet and a bouillabaisse sauce, plus the return of what they’re calling Stokehouse Classics – butterflied King George whiting with hand-cut chips, grilled lobster with tarragon butter, and dry-aged Gippsland rib-eye. No word yet on the bombe.
If you’d like to engage with the project on a more casual basis, Ultramarinos is for you. It’s a gelato and cocktail bar, produced in collaboration with Pidapipo, and opens on the first day of December. If this has you salivating (as it does us), you’ll be pleased to hear that bookings are now open.
Confidential to team McConnell: the Stokehouse bombe would make a great gelato special, don’t you think?
Stokehouse, 30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda, stokehouse.com.au, @stokehouserestaurant; Marea Beach House and Bar, mareabeachhouse.com.au, @mareabeachhousebar; Ultramarinos, ultramarinos.com.au, @ultramarinos.stkilda