First Look: Bar Nova, reigniting Kingston’s spark

Posted on 27 August, 2026

The new bar and restaurant from Canberra hospitality wunderkind Kierain Bunton has arrived – loud, bright and an electric reset for the Kennedy Street address once occupied by Onzieme.

The corner-spot bones of the old space might be familiar to anyone who loved Louis Couttoupes’ award-winning Parisienne bistro-inspired brasserie, but almost everything else has been completely reimagined.

Where Onzieme was intimate, restrained and quietly elegant, Bar Nova is all neon-orange banquette seating, bold artwork, religious iconography and retro heat – a room designed to make sure nobody mistakes it for what came before.

Mussels on toast and zucchini flowers

“It’s very different. Look around, the space is different,” says Kierain. “I purposely made it feel as different as possible. And I love Louis. I love what he did here and I admire it, but we’re here to go in a very different direction.”

The room glows with a maximalist confidence – saturated orange seating that feels half-1970s lounge, half-late-night fever dream, walls punctuated by arresting art, and devotional imagery that gives the space a faintly surreal, almost altar-like drama. It is cheeky, irreverent and theatrical.

“I want people to come in and enjoy themselves in a space that is really light and bright and retro and cool.”

For Kierain, the ultimate aim is not simply to serve dinner, but to create an experience that sneaks up on people. Food and drink matter deeply, of course, and he has harnessed the might of chef Nick Petersen (formerly Such and Such) with Brett Nebauer (formerly 11e Cave and Onzieme) behind the bar. But he wants the room, the music, the energy and the attitude to be just as memorable as anything arriving on a plate.

“I think the ultimate goal for us is to make a space where people don’t really feel like they’re coming for dinner,” he says. “I wanted it to kind of sneak up on you.”

Steak with chimicurri

Of course, once it’s snuck up, the menu will capture your immediate and lasting attention. Super-curated and bold, these dishes were hitting all the right notes at the opening service, testament to Kierain’s 13 years in the industry and experience managing various aspects of Edgars and The Inn in Ainslie.

Our early picks for return visits include the mussels on toast with curry and herbs, and zucchini flowers with Laos sausage.

The octopus with escabeche and potato is a revelation, charred and citrusy and creamy all at once. Similar could be said of the tuna with ajoblanco and Calabrian chilli, which is balanced finely between heat and cool rich, raw flesh.

The 9+ skirt steak with chimichurri is a hit with the carnivores and next time we’re there, the Murry Cod with buttermilk and chive and the charcoal chicken with garlic yoghurt and herbs sound just the ticket.

Can you believe we are just too overloaded with food to order the dinner rolls with burnt honey glaze and garlic butter, or any of the dessert options which include a trifle of kumquat, Earl Grey and chocolate or the soft-serve with Jack Daniels caramel and banana? Indeed, this is a culinary travesty we will rectify upon our return.

Beef tartare, and tuna

Bar Nova, Kierain says, is intended to be enjoyable, loud and a little bit opinionated. “We very much intend to do our own thing and stick to our guns. In this space, everyone is welcome. Not everyone’s going to like it. That’s okay. We’re going to do our thing unapologetically.”

It is a bold statement in a city dining scene that, Kierain believes, has spent the post-COVID years playing it safe. “Hospitality has become quite homogeneous in Canberra,” he says.

“After COVID, everyone had to make changes and pivot to make sure they could stay afloat. But now that we’ve got that far enough behind us, I’m really looking to doing our style of hospitality, our way, showing people that you don’t have to do the same thing as everybody else. You can be brave.”

At The Inn, Kierain says he learned not only consistency and business nous, but how to build a venue around community.

“I learned a lot from Frank (Condi) and Zach (Graham) over my time. I learned consistency. I learned how to become more business savvy, but I also learned how to become a publican and have a central community. And I think that’s what I’m trying to do in my own way here.”

Bar Nova may occupy one of Canberra’s most talked-about restaurant sites, but it will resist any weight of comparison. If Onzieme was the chapter that made this little Kingston corner famous, Bar Nova is the next one – written in fluorescent marker. It is brighter, louder, stranger, and destined to shine.

Main image: Brett Nabauer and Kierain Bunton