Bennetts Lane Opens in Melbourne With Martini Trolleys, Mochi Next
The next stage of the $200 million, 20-storey Bennetts Lane development has opened in Melbourne's CBD. A lounge called TiVo rolls out martini trolleys now, while a yakitori bar opens in late November and a Taiwanese mochi shop follows in a few months.
The next stage of Bennetts Lane, a 20-storey, $200 million development on Little Lonsdale Street in Melbourne's CBD, is now open, with martini trolleys first and mochi still to come. The eastern end of the street is turning into a eating-and-drinking precinct built for venue-hopping.
The building rises behind 19th-century heritage brick facades. It holds The Lane House apartment hotel, penthouses, offices, a basement bathhouse and a branch of Cobb Lane Bakery.
TiVo and its trolleys
The new arrival is TiVo, a first-floor aperitivo lounge and event space. It aims to blend a hotel lobby bar, an after-work meeting place and a dressy social club.
"We are offering something different and memorable," said Dave Kerr-Burrows, general manager of Talisman Group, which owns TiVo. The group also runs Mile9 pizza in West Melbourne and Casa Chino, a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant in Brunswick.
Three food and drink trolleys sit at the center of the concept. Managing director Vincent Lombino came up with the idea, and local artisan My Little Workshop hand-crafted them from Mount Dandenong blackwood.
"There's complimentary prosecco and nibbles on arrival, then the martini trolley comes around," Kerr-Burrows said. Liquid nitrogen chills glasses at the table, and an ice stamp finishes drinks served on the rocks.
Chef Eric Kwek loads his trolley with chilled seafood. Oysters are shucked in front of guests, and a prawn cocktail uses deep-water Patagonian shellfish with a Cognac-spiked sauce. "It's almost that Prohibition-era idea, pushing a trolley from table to table, everyone dressed in a nice jacket and suit," Kwek said.
The 70-seat lounge runs along the laneway side of the building, with peaked brick rooflines adding texture. Banquette and lounge zones suit solo diners as well as small and larger groups. Scoop-backed chairs are upholstered in velvet stitched with a leaping leopard design by Catherine Martin.
The laneway below
Four hospitality sites in the lane itself are in various stages of completion. The laneway will soon become a parklet-lined strip, and traders hope to tap into the energy of a pocket once home to the Bennetts Lane Jazz Club. Prince played secret shows there, and countless be-boppers earned their chops.
Cobb Lane Bakery started the food offering in March. It sells sourdough, cookies and a signature sausage roll, all baked on site. There is a mini provedore and a few seats for tea, coffee and sandwiches. The lawns of Wesley Place are opposite.
Korean hospitality group Vibecast has taken three of the four laneway sites. Closest to Little Lonsdale Street is a yet-to-be-named Taiwanese mochi shop focused on beautifully wrapped edible gifts. It is a few months away.
Bakatori, a yakitori bar, is set to open in the last week of November. A steam-powered lighting feature above the central bar looks like licking flames. Chef Jun Pak, co-founder of hatted omakase restaurant Aoi Tsuki in South Yarra, is overseeing a menu of charcoal-grilled skewers, udon bowls and nabe.
Next door, a dine-in Japanese- and Korean-inspired bakery will serve shio pan, or salt bread, in 20 flavors.
Visiting TiVo
TiVo is at 17 Bennetts Lane, Melbourne, and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 4pm until late. It is on Instagram at instagram.com/tivolounge.
"These days, people aren't just looking for a drink and something to eat, they want an experience," Kerr-Burrows said. "You want to come again with a group of friends because the experience brings you back."
