In October 2025, Andy Ainsworth and Clare O’Flynn moved their beloved Bar Merenda (named The Age Good Food Guide’s Bar of the Year 2024) to a charming 170-year-old building nearby, where the casual, blackboard-scrawled offering and thrilling wine list that won it its fanbase continues on the ground floor. Meanwhile on the second floor, an intimate dining room is reached via spiral staircase.

With 18 seats, Bistro Merenda channels rustic-refined countryside diners of Europe. Co-head chefs Oliver Edwards and Brianna Smith (both ex-Hazel) serve a set menu of produce from the region: perhaps globe artichoke and Warialda Beef tartare, Goulburn River rainbow trout and sorrel soup, and wood-grilled pork chop with Wombat Forest Farm turnips.

Must-try: The four-course set menu ($110) is quite literally the must-order. On Mondays, it’s a two-course menu for $65 a head. Downstairs is still a la carte.

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