The Meatball & Wine Bar Opens Fourth Restaurant, Expanding Into Windsor

Now an iconic Melbourne institution, The Meatball & Wine Bar has opened its doors Southside, launching its latest restaurant at 150 Chapel Street, Windsor. The latest addition is the fourth venue for the restaurant group, with venues already in Flinders Lane, Richmond and Collingwood.

Opening from lunch until 1am Wednesday ‘til Sunday, and 5pm ‘til late Monday and Tuesday, the Windsor restaurant is a slight departure from the other three existing venues boasting a larger selection of natural wines from Italy and Australia as well as a resurgence of The Meatball & Wine Bar’s Italian-inspired cocktails. The food menu includes all of the Meatball & Wine Bar classics such as Giant Pork & Veal Meatball with pan-fried gnocchi on creamy red sauce as well as additional meatball options being added to the main menu including a rotating selection of meatball salads.

Designed by Techne Architects; the team behind Garden State, Prahran Hotel, Biggie Smalls and Jimmy Grants Eastland, the Windsor venue has taken over the heritage listed building, previously leased by San Churro. The venue seats up to 60 people featuring private dining booths, bar and outdoor seating, warm lighting and marble counter tops with lush greenery, whilst maintaining a sense of old school charm in honour of the heritage building.

The Richmond restaurant located on Swan Street has also been extended via the addition of a new private dining space, which matches the Chapel Street aesthetics and will also be opening in mid-December.

In addition to these expansions, owner Matteo Bruno, has his sights set interstate with venues planned for Sydney, his home town in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, along with a new venture in Melbourne into an even-more specialised meat offering-his very own Butcher Shop.

“Owning a butcher shop allows us (The Meatball & Wine Bar) to take even more pride in everything that goes on our menu,” Matteo said.

The butcher shop, located in Richmond, will open to the public in early 2017 and will specialise in Italian meats as well as having state of the art Dry Aging facilities.

The Meatball & Wine Bar journey first started in 2012 in the dining precinct of Flinders Lane in Melbourne’s CBD as the first singular food restaurant in Australia serving meatballs. A film and television producer by trade, owner Matteo Bruno has produced the international series, Ask the Butcher as well as two seasons of Stefano’s Cooking Paradiso. It was through this process of filming food programs that Matteo was inspired to do something of his own, drawing inspiration from his family’s Italian heritage and knowledge of good quality produce.