First look, Wine Room. Worth crossing the street for.

Posted on 21 December, 2022

There appears to be a bit of a migration afoot in Braddon.

All the cool kids who have been used to congregating on Lonsdale Street now have many compelling reasons to cross over to Mort.

The biggest of which is Wine Room.

Opening this week, here is a bespoke dining and drinking experience which promises to draw a crowd to jostle over placement at one of the rich curved leather banquets, nab a table lining the open plan wine wall and bar, or more likely, hope to nestle in the dreamy 12-seater private dining room beneath an ethereal flower installation by Wiluna.

Private dining never looked so pretty under a Wiluna flowerscape.

It’s hard to know where to start in describing the place, where every inch of space has been resolved in careful design decisions, and the overall use of recycled timber, statement brass light fittings, exposed brick and black granite creates a sense of luxe cosiness.

It feels like getting an invitation into someone’s very inviting, and somewhat fancy living room, which, as it turns out, is exactly the vibe that its owners envisaged.

Just like someone’s cosy dining room only luxe…

You will know the work of the team behind the new venture, who have a number of hits already on the board.

Will Fisher (Ex Local Press, Gather), Marcellus Heleta (Ex Ovolo/Monster, RAKU, QT, Akiba) and Paolo Sossi (The Marylebone, London, The Trust, Melbourne, and Goldfish, Sydney) are FIXATE Group Directors.

Taking on board new business partner Josh Smith-Thirkell (QT Hotel Group), as the Executive Chef, the team want to reimagine intimate dining and drinking in Canberra.

Starters and snacks. Will we ever want our butter without candied orange after this? Image by Pew Pew Studio

Building on the success of the much-awarded Gather café, which takes out the front real estate onto Mort, they have crafted an intimate 40-seater venue, including the private dining room and an outdoor area with 10-odd seats spilling out into the alley on Mort Street.

It’s tucked away, but unmissable once you know where to look.

According to Mars, the venue has taken two years to bring to life, and it is very much an expression of FIXATE’s desire to make its collective mark on Canberra.

While the name suggests Wine Room is, well, a wine room, the menu screams destination dining ambition.

Magra Lamb short loin with fresh peas and olive tepenade. Image by Pew Pew Studio

Having delivered for some of the most prominent hotel kitchens across Australia and New Zealand, Josh has crafted a menu which feels homely yet bar-raising.

From the whipped roe, baby cucumber and dill to pop into your mouth with your fist sip of wine, to the candied orange and fennel butter to go on the Three Mills dinner rolls and fermented yuzu granita atop the Clare de Lune Rock Oysters, it’s a serious menu—even for the snacks.

Starters include Balinese Beef Tartare with prawn crackers and Freemantle Octopus with black garlic, yellow peppers and nduja.

The 500 gram bone-in sirloin with Hasselback potato. Image by Pew Pew Studio

Mains include Murray Cod with macadamia, lemon myrtle, garlic scapes and cod gravy, a 50-gram bone-in sirloin with Bordelaise, roast garlic and fresh horseradish and Magra Lamb short loin with spring peas, olive tapenade and Pommes William.

There’s an eclectic selection of sides (of which charred cabbage with fermented prawn and chilli butter and bonito is just one) and Lemon Myrtle Splice or Banana Banoffee Pie to finish.

The wine list too is eclectic, the creation of Mars and his team, and based on the concept that wine should be a fun and fluid affair, with wines by the glass slated to change weekly.

Wine Room does wine by the glass, changing weekly, and has a takeaway licence in case you need another bottle to go. Image by Pew Pew Studio

“Just as you would work out what wine you drink at a friend’s house based on what you are eating with it, what the weather is like, how your day went, we will bring that same intimacy, openness and friendliness,” he says.

Indeed, there is no physical barrier of a bar between staff and diners, making the home dining room ambiance that much stronger.

“The design of the open-plan bar was intended to remove the traditional barriers between guests and bar staff, encouraging everyone to engage more over the wine and food. This immersive style of hospitality is new to Canberra, and we are excited about bringing it to the market.”

Beef tartare, with a spicy Asian bent. Image by Pew Pew Studio

According to Will, “We wanted to create a venue that was designed around our love of sharing food and sharing wine with mates. Which incidentally is exactly what happened.”

With the concept developed in collaboration with Pat Rose (Prose Design), Nikolas Webster (Lekkier) and brought to life by Darcy Henderson (Greenlight), WineRoom has been a passion project.

Pat said the team had spent countless hours obsessing over all the ways they could perfect the dining experience for guests on top of the creativity and fine-tuning taking place in Josh’s kitchen. “Whether it was creating perfect forms through the logo, the profile on the reeded glass, the profiling of the door handles, sourcing the perfect recycled paper or the depth of the deboss on the menu folders, we were fixated on every detail.”

Now it’s time to welcome the eating and drinking public in for the experience.

Photography: Pew Pew Studio