In 2022, when we introduced our new Best Innovation Award, we were spoiled for choice. On the back of a challenging couple of years for the hospo industry, restaurants and bars were rising like phoenixes from the post-COVID ashes to reinvent their offerings in new and more riveting ways than ever before. The excitement was palpable; Melbourne was coming back to life.
This year, we’ve only seen that momentum continue to build. It takes strong-minded visionaries to push the bounds of dining and drinking in a city that’s arguably craving comfort and value more than anything else right now, and so this category is our way to honour them. All four of our nominees have displayed courage and creativity in the face of an unpredictable response – and heck yeah, it’s paying off!
First, we have Lene, a discreet Richmond wine bar and casual restaurant that makes everything in-house (and most of it, amazingly, from scratch). After a long and impressive career involving an apprenticeship with Jacques Reymond, a fine art qualification from RMIT and stints at Grossi Florentino and Michelin-starred restaurants overseas, 25-year-old chef Cameron Williams leveraged the quietude of Melbourne’s lockdowns to bring his dream of starting his own restaurant to life.
North of the river in Fitzroy, Ends and Means describes itself as “a small cocktail bar with big dreams”. Taking a sustainable, minimal-waste approach to its drinks offerings and fitout, this winner of our People’s Choice Award in 2020 has continued to nail the brief without abandoning its eco-friendly principles, with stellar no- and low-alcohol drinks to rival the rest of its hand-crafted range and meet rising demand from those off the grog.
We were also thoroughly impressed by Flint, a Collingwood restaurant that combines the no-waste fermentation ethos of Parcs with a healthy respect for flames. There are no ovens at Flint – only ‘fire, smoke and charcoal’ and every dish we tried was a knockout.
And if you love good Italian, but you’re a little bored of how much of it there is in Melbourne (we’re blessed with a veritable abundance), Alt Pasta Bar needs to zoom straight to the top of your hit list. This moody new spot tucked away in a CBD laneway is serving up pasta but not as you know it; it’s miraculously free of added salt and full of creative curveballs like abalone, kumquat, dashi jelly and romesco.
But good innovation isn’t just about fusion, fancy ingredients or fast-shifting menus – it’s about playing with these factors with finesse, and curating an exceptional experience for visitors from start to finish. That’s what this year’s nominees have demonstrated, and we believe each one of them will only continue to go from strength to strength We'll be cheering them on, and can’t wait to taste what their dream teams innovate next.
