Coming Soon: This Multi-Sensory, Not-So-Serious, Theatrical Restaurant Is So Popular That It Is Opening a Second Venue to Keep Up with the Demand for Seats
Shelly will offer a 10-course degustation menu that is flamboyant, dramatic, and at its heart, just a lot of fun.
Shelanous, which describes itself as a multi-sensory restaurant, takes everything you know about fine dining and degustation menus and flips it on its head. Its theatrical ways have proven so charming that there is a two-month waitlist at the Port Melbourne restaurant. So the owners have decided to expand their whimsical endeavours, announcing plans to set up their second outpost, Shelly, in Caulfield this November.
Shelanous offers a 10-course degustation menu with matching beverages based around the four seasons, which plays into the five senses, plus a sixth, which they like to call fun. Customers are seated at a long communal table and taken on a multisensory adventure with bold flavours, fragrant scents, stimulating visuals, and high-energy sounds. It's about as opposite to a serious and formal white-tablecloth dining experience as you can get, which is refreshing and reinvigorating, proving that dining can be lighthearted and invoke childlike joy and excitement just for the sake of it.
As you move through the four seasons at Shelanous, expect the likes of flashing clouds suspended above the table, drinks served in movie popcorn containers, waiters dressed in Hawaiian shirts shooting bubbles across the table, tiny shovels used to dig for your food, dessert dramatically splattered straight onto the table, blindfolds, headphones, pumping music and dance breaks — and thats just the start of it.
Co-owner Rony Parienty says, "The demand for Shelanous since opening has been overwhelming. We're constantly booked out two months in advance, and we love seeing people enjoy the experience we deliver alongside the great food and drinks. But, with a waiting list this long, we knew it was time to open another location. Opening Shelly in Caulfield will not only allow us to meet demand but also create a whole new high-energy experience for our guests. We can't wait to welcome people when we start this new chapter."
Shelly will follow a similar format to its older sibling venue, offering a 10-course degustation menu (that will be both halal-friendly and kosher certified) that is flamboyant, dramatic, and at its heart, just a lot of fun. With the consistent demand for seats at the table, Shelly will offer a 30-seat dining room, a Sense Bar, and limited walk-in availability, all under a starlight ceiling.
Images: Supplied.
Shelly is set to open on November 5, at 809 Glenhuntly Road, Caulfield. In the meantime, try your luck at getting a reservation at Shelanous, or check out the best set menus in Melbourne.
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