Pentridge is now the place to be as a rule-breaking restaurant moves in

Coburg dining is set for a shake-up with the opening of Koi Toy at the overhauled former Pentridge jail precinct. The 170-seat eatery has a mix of bar, indoor and outdoor dining, and offerings are designed to work for pre-movie snacking, friendly catch-ups and committed feasts.

Executive chef Alex Meimetis is fresh off a two-year stint at the Geelong offshoot of Melbourne institute Chin Chin; he’s threading a variety of cultural influences through a broadly Japanese menu.

“I love Japanese cuisine, but we’re doing it a bit differently here,” he says.

The large menu is an exuberant rundown of Japanese-style dishes such as sashimi and skewers, including some combinations that are likely to cause a few double takes.

Prawns are infused with wasabi, wrapped in fine strands of kataifi pastry, and served with chorizo and a ponzu emulsion. Ramen bisque fideua throws together the concepts of Japanese soup noodles, creamy French seafood soup and a type of paella made with pasta. Ocean trout is cured with vanilla and sake then dressed with Turkish capsicum paste and Japanese sansho pepper.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what our guests make of it,” says Meimetis. “Customers will be asking questions and we will enjoy talking to them. That’s a fun part of what we do.”

He’s been impressed with the vibrancy of the Pentridge development, which has seen the former historic jail be turned into an area with cafes, a cinema, casual dining and hundreds of apartments. The prison ceased operating in 1997. He believes smart-casual Koi Toy will be a popular addition.

Meimetis has been pleased to develop dishes to suit the area’s large Muslim population. “A lot of people stopped in to ask when we’re opening and if there would be halal dishes. I’ve been more than happy to accommodate, choosing a halal meat supplier, avoiding sake in some dishes, and making sure there’s no cross-contamination. It’s a great challenge and the more challenges we have, the better the results we can get.”

There’s a large menu of zero-proof cocktails, including yuzu soda, while the cocktail menu borrows Japanese flavours and products, such as the Mikan Negroni that substitutes sake for the usual vermouth.

Koi Toy is the first restaurant from Brisbane-based Shayher Group, the developers of the precinct. Design firm Studio Y has experience turning heritage spaces into amenable contemporary venues, including the Melbourne CBD’s 1929 G.J. Coles building that recently reopened as a four-level Rodd and Gunn retail-dining playground.

At Pentridge, the studio created Brewdog’s “bar behind bars”, just opposite Koi Toy. There’s no prison theme in this venue. Lighting evokes Japanese paper lanterns, for example, and layered neon suggests busy Tokyo nights.

The Pentridge precinct doesn’t have a faultless record with restaurants. North & Common was an upscale dining room in the onsite Adina Apartment Hotel helmed by ex-Cumulus head chef Mark Glenn (now with Johnny’s Green Room in Carlton and associated businesses). It was awarded a hat soon after opening in 2023 but closed towards the end of 2025.

The hotel’s wine bar, Olivine, has hung in there, and offers drinks and dining in the bluestone jail cells, turning the clink into a place to clink glasses.

Open from Saturday February 21, daily noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm

T16, Pentridge Shopping Centre, 1 Champ Street, Coburg, koitoy.com.au