Domain Review Melbourne Times - February 24, 2021

PEOPLE & PROPERTY OF MELBOURNE

FEBRUARY 24 - MARCH 2, 2021

STAR SOIREE

PARTY PLANNER ELLENI PEARCE

MIDDAY SPRITZ AN ITALIAN TAKE ON LUNCHTIME

SCOTT PICKETT TA K ING A CH A NCE ON THE CIT Y

MELBOURNE TIMES

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The new Brunswick.

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TWILIGHT TOUR

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Discover how Fintona’s size allows for deeper learning in the classroom, more access to expert teachers and greater participation across a broad range of co-curricular pursuits.

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C o mp i l e d b y

H AI L E Y C O U L E S

The editor’s desk

ALEX VAUGHAN

SPACE BETWEEN

I first dined at 430 Little Collins Street about a decade ago, then called Bistro Vue – the little sister to Vue de Monde. Months before the pandemic I went again. By then it had morphed into Ike Jime – still owned by Vue Group – but this time with a focus on seafood. But the much-loved site shut its doors midlockdown, and could have been left to never seat another diner, if not for our cover star Scott Pickett. The chef and owner of Estelle, Matilda and others, talks about opening Chancery Lane in the iconic building, and shares his hopes for the city’s new chapter of culinary experiences. ●

NEW LOCAL \ Hanoi Hannah sister restaurant New

FEATURE FILM \ Movie buffs pull up to the Dromana

Quarter in Richmond is set to reboot in early March,

Drive-in on March 6 for the Peninsula Film Festival

and will be dishing up their version of “Melbourne

short film night, with stars including Michala Banas on

Vietnamese”. ● newquarter.hanoihannah.com.au

the judging panel. ● peninsulafilmfestival.com.au

GOING PLACES Things to do & see in Melbourne

OUR COVER \ Scott Pickett at his new restaurant Chancery Lane.

Photographed by Julian Kingma

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SAM DAGOSTINO

Jason Pellegrino

MELBOURNE TIMES

Chief executive officer Domain Group \

SERENE SETTING \ Light and colour are used to

WESTERN CHARM \ A new foodie one-stop shop is

enhance the yogic experience at new Moorabbin yoga

opening next to Scienceworks in Spotswood. Dubbed

studio The Light Practice, improving mood, energy and

Grazeland, there will be food and drinks from more

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than 50 different vendors. ● grazeland.melbourne

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COVER STORY

Scott Pickett on new ventures and humble beginnings.

BUILDING AN EMPIRE 6

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t times during the long COVID lockdown, little more than tumbleweeds rolled around the city streets as Melburnians hunkered down at home and took to baking sourdough for comfort.

The impact of the global pandemic on Melbourne’s famed hospitality scene was devastatingly swift, but while some restaurants packed away the cutlery and closed their doors, trailblazing chef Scott Pickett did the opposite.

As the industry struggled to stay af loat, the restaurant impresario went full steam ahead in expanding his empire, adding the iconic restaurant Longrain to the Pickett & Co stable and pouring everything into the launch of Chancery Lane, an extravagant French bistro where you can order caviar Sausalito-style by the “bump”, served on the diner’s fist.

Dripping with gold chandeliers, gilded archways and lush fittings, Chancery Lane has already brought a sense of glamour and joie de vivre back to Little Collins Street, and Pickett hopes it is just the venue to help Melburnians shake off the shadow of lockdown and rekindle their love affair with the city and its food.

“Despite the impact of COVID, I didn’t hesitate,” Pickett says, “COVID actually gave us extra time to work through that creative development period and get everything just right, which wasn’t a bad thing.

“A beautiful new restaurant to visit gives us something to look forward to, it gives us hope, especially if travel is limited – which it probably will be for a while. We need to have places and experiences that offer enjoyment, and a really fabulous restaurant can give us that.”

Scott Pickett began his career in the kitchen at just 14, washing pots at a local vineyard near his family’s farm at Kangarilla in South Australia’s McLaren Vale wine region.

His parents’ abundant orchard, vines and olive trees inspired his love of food and, despite since dining at the world’s best restaurants, his favourite dish remains Grandma Audrey’s Sunday lamb roast, cooked until it dropped off the bone.

An apprenticeship at Jarmer’s in Adelaide opened the door for the ambitious teen whose talent earned him roles at legendary venues like Bocuse, Langton’s and London’s two-Michelinstarred The Square, where he mastered his craft.

S U E S M E T H U RS T ●

Ph o t o s

J U LIA N KI N G M A

brand, produce glossy cookbooks, create YouTube channels, and appear on endless reality TV shows, all while continually creating new dishes that satiate the appetite of an impatient and increasingly informed consumer.

The affable Pickett regularly appears on Masterchef and hosted his own show, The Hotplate, with Tom Parker Bowles. His Pickett & Co empire now oversees seven restaurants and, on any given night, he can be found cooking up a storm in one of their kitchens.

“I don’t sleep much!” he laughs. “You’re a business operator, a marketer, a psychologist, an accountant. The cooking is the easy part!”

For the father of Harrison, 15, Matilda, 13, and Oscar, 9, juggling family life and the burgeoning empire seven days a week can be tough.

He says a work-life balance is important and although he generally isn’t home for dinner, Pickett loves being on hand when the children

“To have the opportunity to create something, to employ people and please people, cook for people and take care of them is a pretty special place to be.”

His dream in those early years was to one day own a restaurant of his own. Three decades on, he is now the face and force behind an eating empire, including some of our most successful and influential dining experiences such as Lupo (formerly Saint Crispin), Estelle and Matilda.

“I’m living my dream,” he says. “I love starting with an idea that’s in your head and working through it all from a concept stage then six or nine months later you’re standing in it, you’ve created something, you’ve built something.”

Creating a world-class restaurant sounds a little like pregnancy.

“Yes!” he laughs, “Absolutely!

“The restaurants are all like children in their own ways; sometimes you’re completely in love with them. Other times they test you, but you love them no less and there’s no favourite, of course!

“Every restaurant is cute and cuddly to begin with, but that’s when the real work begins and you’re up day and night making it work.”

To be a successful foodie today means so much more than being clever in the kitchen.

To rise to the top, the cream must build a

wake up, joking that he’s perfected the art of the school lunchbox.

“I probably still don’t do as many lunchboxes as I should, but the ones I do are very fancy!” he laughs. “My wife Bec is a huge support. I organise my mornings around the kids. Estelle is just around the corner from home and the kids go to school locally so I can help out with the morning rush and still be at work before 9am.

“We try to put time aside that is strictly for family. At the moment that’s Saturday mornings, when the kids are doing sport, and Sundays too.

“I don’t really see what I do as work, it’s my life and whether I’m with my family or in the restaurant it’s all a part of who I am and what I love.”

“To have the opportunity to create something, to employ people and please people, cook for people and take care of them is a pretty special place to be. That’s what I love and that’s what it’s all about.” ● CHANCERY LANE \ 430 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. ● chancerylane.com.au

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Life is Co-Ed and so are we from 2023

St Aloysius College, North Melbourne, one of the best performing inner-city Catholic schools is getting even better for families, we’re now accepting boys and girls from 2023.

Book an information session today.

www.aloysius.vic.edu.au

St Aloysius College 31 Curran Street, North Melbourne 3051 03 9325 9200 enquiry@aloysius.vic.edu.au Subject to VRQA approval

EVENT HOSTING Elleni Pearce is all about bringing style to your soiree.

Elleni Pearce, of Lenzo and Everbloome, at her store in Malvern, Melbourne.

W

hen you walk past the new Lenzo party store in Malvern, a riot of colours beckon from the street.

Inside, a rainbow hue of dried flowers spill out from shelves that reach the ceiling, while pastel cakes look so perfectly pretty that one wants to frame them. It’s all the brainchild of Elleni Pearce, who has been planning the ultimate party since she was a child.

“I’ve loved parties since I was four years old,” says Pearce. “For me, it was all about making it look really beautiful, coming up with the concept and theme, and pulling it together with extra details – even when I was five or six!”

Although she initially worked in magazines, parties kept calling. After her second daughter was born, she decided to turn her passion into a business. Now 37, she remembers the catalyst was her 30th birthday party.

“I had all of these jars – it was when jars were really in – and after the party was over, I thought, ‘What am I going to do with all of them?’”

Lenzo began by displaying items from other vendors and suppliers, but demand changed the concept.

“It was a phenomenon born from Instagram, where suddenly everyone

most of 2020, Pearce had another brainstorm. In January, she had bought a wealth of dried flowers to decorate events, but suddenly by March they were sitting dormant.

“It was quite depressing, wondering what we were going to do with them. It took me a couple of weeks to realise, ‘Oh my god, I’ve actually got something that I can sell!’” And so began another arm of the business – Everbloome. “It was my silver lining; it kept me sane.”

Although Lenzo has been behind some big-name parties – responsible for the shoe ice sculpture at designer Lana Wilkinson’s shoe launch, and working with the likes of Country Road and Chadstone Shopping Centre – for 2021 big bashes are giving way to smaller soirees.

Potential customers can book an appointment with a personal party stylist, who will then pull together a mood board and shopping list.

“Definitely people are entertaining more intimately. They’re COVIDconscious. They’re doing events at home, but they want to make it really

Party planner to the stars wanted something that was unique,” Pearce says. “The challenging thing is when people have champagne tastes on a small budget!”

In order to cater to smaller children’s parties, Lenzo offers a “party in a box”. A theme is picked and all the accoutrements are sent over to decorate the party.

Receiving the most publicity was Rebecca Judd’s house-warming in 2019, inspired by US music festival

I N S TA-WO R T H Y F L OW E RS

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Coachella and nicknamed “Juddchella”. Tasselled chandeliers were suspended in the air and balloons and flowers flowed freely.

“Even today, people want the Smithchella, the Bobchella – we’re planning a StellaChella at the moment!” Luckily, party-throwers can opt for the inexpensive version since Coachella is a curated theme.

Although COVID-19 stopped events from taking place through

R AC H E L L E U N R E I C H ●

Ph o t o s

special and go to extra effort because they’ve been starved of that for so long,” Pearce says.

“The requests we’re getting are for intimate dinner parties, small gatherings and kids’ parties in the park – although there were a lot of F*&% 2020 for New Year’s Eve themes as well!” ● LENZO \ Dinner parties for eight start at $149. ● lenzo.com.au

CA R M E N Z A M M IT

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OUT FOR LUNCH

What’s in a name?

C

Z SA’ S PA PPA R D E L L E , N ’ D UJA , B U F FA L O R I C O T TA

Shortlist and share your favourite properties Tap the star to save properties you love, and invite someone to shortlist with you.

Download the app 10

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J FORSYTH

all it fate – or justification for feeling tipsy mid-week before lunchtime – but I share a name with a spritz at Zsa’s. The Sophia has a hit of honey from Professore Rosso vermouth and a savoury whack from a fennel salami and olive garnish. Technically, it’s named after Ms Loren, not Ms Levin – but I, too, owe everything to spaghetti.

Zsa’s opened as a deli at the Ruckers Hill end of High Street in mid-2020, followed by the bar and bistro when dining-in was green-lit. It's the only place in the area where you can eat oysters at 10am and finish with a $75 dinner degustation.

Let the weather dictate whether you sit at umbrella-shaded tables on High Street or forest-

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S O F IA L E VI N

HARLEY B

JOSIE WITHERS

green banquettes surrounded by shelves of artisan produce. There’s a gilded display cabinet piled with boards of panini, and local and imported cheese and charcuterie. I make a mental note to snack on them solo at the bar with a glass of Yarra Valley house sangiovese or, better yet, a bottle of beaujolais. But today it's lunch with the girls, and I’ve double-parked a cocktail and coffee to prove it.

The kitchen pimps tins of Cuca seafood and we start with a “fish & chips” sandwich: smoked trout, horseradish cream and potato crisps for crunch. I order gnocchi after seeing fresh pasta being sold from racks inside. The pillows are jumbled with mild crumbles of squacquerone cheese and zucchini ribbons, pickles and flowers. Brittle-skinned mirror dory arrives on roasted red-pepper ajvar, and we order fries to balance out a trio of salad; the best a herby pea-and-ricotta slaw.

Whether $20 Wednesday pasta night, porchetta roast Sunday lunches or weekend European brunch boards, I don’t need an excuse to return. For now though, there’s another spritz with my name on it. ●

What’s nearby?

High Street, Northcote, is a vintage wonderland. For clothing, check out Yesteryear Vintage (yesteryearvintage.com.au), Asobii up Westbourne Grove for Japanese designers (asobii.online) or visit nearby op shops. Grandfather’s Axe has a stunning showroom of midcentury Scandinavian and European

● Zsa’s ● 202 High Street, Northcote ● zsas.com.au

furniture (grandfathersaxe.com.au).

Search by school name You can now search by school name, and we’ll show you properties in that catchment.

Visit domain.com.au/schools DOM A IN REV IEW

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MALVERN \ 26 PARSLOW STREET 4

3

1

Landscaped gardens and a lovely pool frame this delightful Malvern house, renovated by award-winning architect Richard Swansson. Head onto the porch and through the front entry to find a home office to the north and the main bedroom with en suite and walk-in wardrobe to the south.

Farther in is the living and dining room, which has its own fireplace and opens up onto a small north-facing deck. Keep going through and you’ll reach the expansive family, meals and kitchen area, with adjacent laundry. That all opens onto a large rear entertaining deck, complete with barbecue. It’s all found close to Tooronga station and Malvern Village, and has off-street parking. ● ANDERS FURZE

Agent: Marshall White, Fraser Cahill 0400 592 572 Price: $3.2 million-$3.5 million Auction: Noon, February 27

ALBERT PARK \ 49 GREIG STREET 5

2

1

Albert Park’s leafy Greig Street is home to this newly renovated 1912 property. The house retains its smart Victorian facade while boasting contemporary touches across three floors of flexible family living. With two bedrooms connected by a shared common area, the lower ground floor is ideal for kids. Discreet skylights bring light into the rooms. It’s all about entertaining on the ground floor, with its open dining, kitchen and living spaces, and herringbone floor throughout. The main bedroom has an original fireplace and a walk-in wardrobe leading to the en suite fitted with handmade Italian fittings and rainfall showerhead. Upstairs you’ll find two bedrooms and a lightfilled home office. ● ANDERS FURZE

Agent: Greg Hocking Holdsworth, Warwick Gardiner 0438 308 555 Price: $3 million-$3.3 million Auction: noon, February 27

12

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PORT MELBOURNE 115 Clark Street

b5 a3 c2

ONE OF PORT’S BEST • Distinctive freestanding period residence • Double garage and exceptionally fitted studio • Land size: 10.1m x 40.3m 405sqm (approx.)

Superbly located in a wide tree lined street comprising two spacious bedrooms, tiled marble bathroom, sitting room opening to internal courtyard,

powder room, separate laundry and spacious open plan area incorporating bench style timber kitchen and meals with generous living room. Upstairs to two bedrooms, tiled bathroom, study area opening to outdoor deck area with city views.

View EOI Contact

PORT MELBOURNE 503/15 Pickles Street

Sat & Thu as Advertised Closing Fri 5 March at 5pm Geoff Cayzer 03 9690 9782 Michael Szulc 0417 122 809

b5 a6 c5 d1

ELEGANT ELEVATED SANCTUARY • Breathtaking views across Port Philip Bay and beyond • World class luxury • Secure and private lift access Luxury living in Melbourne's most sought after lifestyle location. Five generous bedrooms each with ensuite. Master Suite with walk-in dressing and marble ensuite.

Dedicated office/second living. Spacious living and dining areas. Entertainer’s kitchen, integrated smart home system.

Albert Park 03 9699 5999

cayzer.com.au

Private pool and spa with outdoor BBQ kitchen and alfresco.

Sprawling main terrace. Private studio with ensuite and balcony.

Garaging for five cars. Storage cage/ workshop. Under floor heating, central heating and cooling.

View EOI Contact

By private appointment Closing Friday 12 March at 5pm Jason De Stefano 0413 292 666 Michael Szulc 0417 122 809 Geoff Cayzer 03 9690 9782

Port Melbourne 03 9646 0812 DOM A IN REV IEW

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