Overview
Since beloved Turkish restaurant Stanbuli closed in April, you may have been waiting to hear who would be taking over its Enmore Road digs with bated breath. Thankfully, it's now been revealed that the Porteno team will be maintaining its ownership of the space, opening Bar Louise, a new Spanish tapas bar at 135 Enmore Road, with a name that honours the history of the building.
Named after the Marie-Louise salon that occupied the building from the 50s through until the 90s, the bar will be opening in mid-September behind the iconic Marie-Louise facade. A fresh Bar Louise sign has been added to the historic shopfront, and the Stanbuli grill has been kept on-site to use for vegetable and seafood dishes.
A tentative open date of Monday, September 12 has been floated — if all goes well. Porteno Foundr Elvis Abrahanowicz says the food offerings will be based around fresh seafood brought from the market each day, with the menu changing daily depending on that morning's haul.
"We just want to make it a fun place everyone can come and drink wine and eat great food — open seven days a week," Abrahanowicz told Concrete Playground.
Continental Deli Co-Owner and Manager Michael 'Mikey' Nicolian is also involved, helping pull together the menu that will feature a staple of both Porteno and Continental — curing and preserving.
"We'll be doing a lot of house-cured things and preserved seafood ... making our own chorizo. We usually do that at our other places," says Abrahanowicz.
Bar Louise will open down the road from Porteno's new Australia Street pop-up. The team recently opened a temporary Humble Bakery in Newtown. Located next to Continental and 212 Blu, the pop-up is serving up its renowned finger buns and almond croissants just two days a week (Saturday and Sunday) until the end of the year.
And, fans of Stanbuli will still be able to enjoy the food of former Head Chef Ibrahim Kasif, with the renowned hospitality mainstay now teaming up with NOMAD to open a new manoush restaurant and wine bar later this year.
Bar Louise is slated to open in mid-September at 135 Enmore Road, Enmore.