Melbourne's Appetite for the Exceptional
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A new table by the bay adds to Melbourne’s enduring allure, a city where distinguished homes and exceptional dining rooms share an instinct for living well.
Every city has its private map: the room for a late reservation, the bar for a second drink, the table you hope becomes yours. In Melbourne, knowing where to go is part of the pleasure of living here. At Melbourne Sotheby’s International Realty, these places are part of how we understand the city. They give an address its atmosphere, and a neighbourhood its allure.
Andrew McConnell has helped draw that map. Alongside Jo McGann, his partner in Trader House, he has created places that have become part of the city’s social vocabulary. An invitation to Gimlet suggests a certain evening. A drink at Marion leaves the possibilities open. His gift as a restaurateur is knowing how a room should feel and giving people a reason to return.
Across Cumulus Inc., Supernormal, Cutler and Builders Arms Hotel, that instinct takes different forms. Apollo Inn and Côte Basque add further layers to a collection whose influence now extends to Brisbane through Supernormal and Bar Miette. Meatsmith and Morning Market bring the same sensibility to the pleasures of entertaining at home. Together, they reflect a restaurateur attuned to the way people weave food into their lives.
With Marea Beach House & Bar, McConnell turns his attention to the shoreline. Opened on 26 October beneath Stokehouse, following his and McGann’s acquisition of the St Kilda institution, it brings a fresh sensibility to a storied Melbourne address. For a restaurateur who has helped define the city’s dining scene, the move to the waterfront feels assured: another setting, another mood, the same instinct for where Melbourne wants to be.
Melbourne’s allure lies in knowing it intimately: the streets you return to, the table you favour, the places that become part of your life. At Melbourne Sotheby’s International Realty, we understand an exceptional address through those connections. McConnell continues to enrich that world and with Marea, the next reservation comes with a view of the bay.