Melbourne’s hottest dining pop-up is hidden in a synagogue and opens once a week

In Australia and many other countries, younger generations are less religious than ever before, despite the best efforts of religious leaders. So what’s the real secret to getting them back through the doors? If Rintel’s Diner is anything to go by, perhaps it’s food.

The Thursday night pop-up, run by chef Gitai Ifergan and collaborator Babs Rapeport, has been operating out of the East Melbourne Synagogue since mid-May thanks to a deal with the resident rabbi, Dovid Gutnick. (Rapeport previously ran an art gallery in the same space.)

It’s regularly booked out a month ahead (even following an arson attack on the synagogue on July 4), though walk-ins early in the evening are welcome.

There’s some congregation crossover, but most of the seats are filled by younger diners, from within and outside the Jewish community. They say they’re drawn by the restaurant’s DIY ethos, accessible pricing (at the time of writing, no dish costs more than $21), and a menu that highlights Jewish diaspora dishes, including the stew cholent, rarely seen on restaurant menus in Melbourne.

Ifergan was born in Israel to Moroccan and Polish parents and raised in Melbourne’s inner south, where many of the city’s eastern European Jewish immigrants originally settled. He recalls going to places like Balaclava Deli, with fridges filled with Russian-style salads, dips and kosher goods seldom found north of the Yarra.

Here, those influences show up in dishes such as egg and onion dip made from deeply caramelised onions folded with chopped egg and house-made mayo.

“I’ve tried to take a bit of Carlisle Street and bring it here,” Ifergan says.

Diners enter via the side of the synagogue, leading into a modest dining hall typically used for bar and bat mitzvahs and other community events. It’s rustic, dimly lit and unexpectedly romantic. Books line the walls, and candlelit, white-clothed tables are tucked into corners.

The set-up feels both novel and nostalgic – a nod to old-school cultural clubs like Denmark House and the now-closed Hungarian community centre Korona Csarda, where food, identity and tradition have long intersected. It also echoes newer grassroots efforts like Pontian Club, a Greek canteen that was run out of a Brunswick hall before moving to a permanent Fitzroy address.

Ifergan thinks the inner-city location adds to Rintel’s appeal. “Doing this at a synagogue in Caulfield just wouldn’t have the same feel to it.”

He also draws inspiration from New York’s cholent culture: a Thursday night ritual built around a slow-cooked beef and potato stew traditionally prepared in advance of Shabbat.

“When the sabbath comes on Friday night, you can’t use electricity, so you put it on before, leave it and enjoy it the next day,” Ifergan says.

Rintel’s cholent is made in bulk and served by the generous bowlful. A $2 slice of challah on the side is optional but encouraged. There’s also a meatless version that swaps beef for celeriac.

Other weekly specials might include chicken gondi, a Persian dish of broth and dumplings made with chicken and chickpea flour, which Ifergan spices with the fragrant hawaij blend from Yemen.

The whole operation is certified by Kosher Australia, though Ifergan admits that wasn’t always the goal.

“ On a personal level, I just can’t believe this is what I’m doing,” he says. “Growing up, kosher was the lamest thing ever.”

While Rintel’s isn’t intended as a long-term venture, it’s not going anywhere just yet.

“It feels sustainable,” Ifergan says. “We don’t want to take it somewhere else – it wouldn’t make sense anywhere else.”

Dinner Thursdays

488 Albert Street, East Melbourne (entry via side laneway), instagram.com/rintels.diner