In Melbourne’s CBD, like most cities around the world, it’s hard not to notice the franchises moving into spaces that independent owners used to run. Streets used to bustle from one owner to the next, and walking through a door felt like stepping into someone’s home instead of their investment property. At L’Area in Paris (a favourite of mine), the owner will always pour a shot of sambuca and light the cigarette of anyone he knows. It now sits around the corner from a chain brasserie. Another Parisian favourite, Cifonelli, the renowned tailors who have been making suits for centuries, are now next door to a Zara outlet. At the risk of sounding insufferable, this is why I write: to point people towards the places that bring culture, history and a deep understanding of their craft to a street, to a city, to all of us.
Bar Lourinhã on Little Collins Street is one of those places. It’s a European-style bar with an Iberian and Mediterranean menu, and it was doing bar dining before much of Australia knew what that meant. These days we’re flooded with small plates, of course. Still, there’s something warm and a bit funny about remembering the people who tried it 20 years ago and got confused looks instead of photos.
I went for lunch the other day (bringing my hard-to-impress Dad) and got the kind of hospitality that only comes from someone who has been in the game for years. In my eyes, it’s the very rare kind, where an empty glass or someone leaning on the bar is all the more charming.
Over a long lunch, we swapped stories with Jo Gamvros, who opened Lourinha with her partner, chef Matt McConnell. Meanwhile, regulars wandered in, blowing kisses to Jo and perching up at the bar, as though it were their own home.
