Chef Karen Martini returns to her roots to assist revive a St Kilda favorite

Chef Karen Martini has taken over the eating room on the Saint Resort in St Kilda, marking a homecoming for her to a suburb struggling to seek out its culinary ft once more.

Martini has robust ties to St Kilda, having spent 16 years on the Melbourne Wine Room on the George Resort in Fitzroy Road, which pioneered the thought of serving upmarket meals in a wine bar setting, then later opening much-loved pizzeria Mr Wolf in Inkerman Road, which she bought in 2021. 

From late January, Martini and her accomplice, Michael Sapountsis, will staff up with Public Hospitality, a Sydney group making inroads in Melbourne, to run the Fitzroy Road resort. The hospitality group owns greater than 20 venues, together with Kew’s Clifton Resort, the place Man Grossi runs Puttanesca restaurant.

Martini and Sapountsis will change the venue’s title to Saint George, honouring each the present constructing and The George Resort, additionally in Fitzroy Road, the place the pair have been a part of the groundbreaking Melbourne Wine Room staff within the Nineteen Nineties.

Saint Resort was relaunched final March as a luxurious pub-meets-steakhouse. The fashionable revamp, the pub’s third main overhaul since opening in 1915, had the potential to be St Kilda’s saving grace, with 5 venues opening over two hovering ranges punctuated by an atrium, however has did not ship on its promise.

At Saint George, Martini will provide two menus of sunshine, enjoyable, Italian-inspired meals: one shall be referred to as the “Tavern” menu and the opposite the “Grill”. A Josper wooden grill will contact fundamental programs akin to bistecca di Fiorentina and complete flounder, which be a part of pasta dishes akin to spaghettini with spanner crab in brodetto sauce (a sort of Italian fish stew).

The Tavern menu consists of dishes geared to informal visits, akin to fritto misto (fried seafood), fish burgers and pasta with bolognese sauce.

The venue will reopen in late January, having had a fast makeover so as to add color to the darkish and moody area. In its final refurbishment, $4 million was spent on leather-based banquettes, dark-stained timbers and touches of marble and bronze.

The Age Good Meals critic Larissa Dubecki reviewed the opening final Might and located the relaunch interesting, although questioned the expense of some menu objects, together with the $95 crayfish pasta.

Martini goals to make her menu pricing extra accessible.

In October, Martini exited her hatted restaurant Hero in Federation Sq. following a breakdown in contract negotiations with the state government-run management of the Australian Centre for the Transferring Picture.

Final month, she helped relaunch Johnny’s Inexperienced Room, the rooftop bar above King and Godfree in Carlton that initially opened in 2018. The bar closed in July for a refurb that features a retractable rooftop for year-round visits, plus new furnishings and a better seating capability.

In her function as culinary director on the freshly relaunched bar, Martini has written a menu that features tuna crudo with pickled fennel, calamari fritti on skewers with Italian-style tartare sauce, and stracciatella with inexperienced melon and cucumber.