Time Out Melbourne never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique.
When thinking about the modern Melbourne dining scene, is it a busy brunch spot or a chic wine bar that defines it best? Sleepy's Café and Wine Bar, on Nicholson Street in Carlton North, recognises this Melbourne truth and leans into both. Driven by self-taught chef and owner Steve Chan, whose menu draws equally from his Australian upbringing and mixed Chinese heritage, Sleepy's is the kind of local joint shaped by migration, where food is rooted in memory but constantly nudged into new territory.
The vibe
Sleepy’s is every bit the neighbourhood bolthole. Inside, you get the classic Carlton bones of exposed red brick, arched openings, timber ceilings and tiled floors, all given a playful lift by a big red lantern over the bar. During the day, the unfussy, lived-in space bustles with young families and groups of friends nestled over lattes.
At night, it shifts into familiar wine bar territory, with lower lighting, more couples and that perfect inner north stickiness that makes you want to settle in with a bottle or four. On my first visit during the day, two chefs run a smooth, efficient pass. By evening, there is only one, and my order gets caught behind a large table, stretching the wait longer than expected. Still, any despair (I am not my best self when hungry) evaporates with the arrival of our first dish.
The food
Sleepy’s menu is a constant play between the familiar and the unfamiliar. The breakfast offering features all the usual suspects: toasties, eggs and carbs, but with a Chinese twist. Chilli scramble arrives on everyone’s favourite, prawn toast, and it is precisely as good as it sounds. Bacon and eggs come tucked in a chewy dumpling skin, and toasties are stuffed with mi goreng or kimchi.
Dinner reads a little more straightforward Chinese, with a radish cake that is crispy on the outside and oozy on the inside, and pork and chrysanthemum dumplings that are plump and juicy. Prawn toast appears again, this time in its wine bar iteration, piped into a crispy youtiao (Chinese doughnut) swimming in a pool of sticky pineapple sweet and sour sauce. It is thick, wickedly crisp, and filled with springy, delicate prawn mousse.
Even with the dinner menu leaning slightly more traditional, there are still playful detours. The mashed potato dumplings come wrapped in silky wonton skins and sit in a peppery, viscous gravy. The filling is buttery and smooth, and with the sharpness of the gravy, the dish is absolutely swoonworthy.
Another standout is the wok-tossed octopus with Sichuan pepper and capsicum. It arrives trailing a heady black bean aroma straight out of an Australian-Chinese bain-marie – comforting, unmistakable and entirely deliberate. Soft capsicum, glossy sauce and all the comfort cues are there, except here the protein is tender, generous pieces of octopus that take the whole thing somewhere far more interesting. It’s familiar yet new, nostalgic yet lifted.
Fried shallots, swollen from soaking up the sauce, add a soft-crunch finish that almost echoes a pasta mollica situation, unexpected but entirely right.
The drinks
Coffee here is Melbourne at its best – strong, smooth and poured alongside every alternative milk your heart could desire. Although I know Sleepy’s is a wine bar, the depth of the vino list still surprised me. It’s a thoughtful mix of local producers and international vintners, with an edited by-the-glass offering that changes often. Cocktails lean into Asian twists, with ingredients like matcha cream, green tea and sake woven throughout.
Visiting on a Friday night, I go straight for the Mean Girl, made with Espolòn Blanco, rhubarb and strawberry, Campari, daiginjo sake and milk punch. It arrives Pepto-Bismol pink, but counterintuitively, it isn’t overly sweet. Instead, it finishes with a pleasing bitterness that reins everything in.
If you’re not committing to a whole bottle, the rotating by-the-glass list has plenty of interest. I try a few glasses of Tangerine chardonnay, which holds its own nicely against the flavourful dishes. If none of the above are your tipple, you can't go wrong with a few bottles of Tsingtao lager.
Time Out tip:
Sleepy’s slips into wine bar mode Thursday to Saturday, but don’t make the mistake of only coming once. Do a Friday night with cocktails and snacks, then return the next morning for a bowl of hangover-busting congee with 24-hour soy-braised pork belly.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.