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Gimlet is considered the jewel in the very large crown of Andrew McConnell\u2019s restaurant empire. Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\nIt all feels seamless. Effortless, even. As if the room simply anticipates you.<\/p>\n
Utter your name at the door of Gimlet and there\u2019s a sense that a stylish host dressed in a sharp suit or Scanlan Theodore number may know who you are. There\u2019s a strong chance they already do.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big part of what has made Gimlet one of the best restaurants in the world. A beacon for everyone from the Obamas to billionaires, socialites to tourists, celebrities like Harry Styles and families celebrating special occasions to foodies eager to see what all the fuss is about.<\/p>\n
Nothing is left to chance in Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann\u2019s Trader House hospitality empire, particularly within the walls of its glittering crown jewel, Gimlet. Every ingredient, every dish, every interaction part of a carefully thought-out performance designed to entertain and keep guests wanting \u2013 and ordering \u2013 more.<\/p>\n
Gimlet is considered the jewel in the very large crown of Andrew McConnell\u2019s restaurant empire. Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n
Even at an unremarkable midweek lunchtime sitting, almost every seat is filled. The near-constant ring of a kitchen bell cuts through diners\u2019 chatter, the soft click of utensils on glass as a host whips up tableside steak tartare, and a seltzer machine bubbles away at the bar.<\/p>\n
Menus are printed twice a day, front-of-house staff forbidden from wearing dark nail polish and each discussion with diners guided by what some have come to call the dictionary of Trader House. Open-ended questions such as, \u201cHow was your food?\u201d are banned. Try, \u201cHow did you enjoy the steak?\u201d instead. Don\u2019t say \u201cunfortunately\u201d there are no bookings available, go with \u201cI\u2019m afraid\u201d\u2013 it\u2019s less negative. Umms and aahs are to be kept to an absolute minimum.<\/p>\n
Guests are Googled before arrival, any whiff of influence noted before being cross-checked with an extensive internal booking system and staff given a rundown of VIPs coming in before each service. Many high-end establishments take records, but few do it so diligently in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/50764c73e14bffd83e081db7988bc6741dbf9323.jpeg\")
Andrew McConnell, pictured at Gimlet, in June 2020, one month before its opening.Josh Robenstone<\/p>\n
Australian restaurants are ineligible for Michelin stars, but Trader House has created a system of its own. Frequent diners, certain media, friends of the business and industry figures are flagged as one-star customers. The highest honour \u2013 three stars \u2013 is reserved for international celebrities, politicians, business leaders and a handful of diners who spend tens of thousands of dollars a year across the group. Nothing would be too much effort. Obscure wines ordered in especially, a table ready at a moment\u2019s notice or off-menu dishes perfected to their liking. Visitors who\u2019ve never had Vegemite may even be treated to a taste of the local curiosity.<\/p>\n
Related Article For repeat diners \u2013 even mere mortals \u2013 there is no escaping the profile system. Used across the entire Trader House group, records stretch back years. Want to propose to your partner at Supernormal? With advance notice, a host can try to place you at the same table as your first date.<\/p>\n Every dish, every drink, every inclination noted. From favourite wines to preferred side of the table, from tap or sparkling water to whether they\u2019re likely to forego dessert. How quickly they like their food served, how long they linger at a table and if they\u2019re likely to be snappy with staff. If a diner is deaf in one ear. The names of people they could be dining with are there.<\/p>\n It even extends to people who have never set foot inside a Trader House restaurant. Australian Financial Review rich-listers have a profile, just in case.<\/p>\n Trader House knows exactly what a guest wants and precisely how they want it \u2013 often before they realise it themselves.<\/p>\n Hospitality insiders expect nothing less in a restaurant group established by McConnell, one of Melbourne\u2019s most successful chefs-turned-restaurateurs with an exceptional eye for detail who has for years influenced how the city eats.<\/p>\n Other venues Cumulus Inc, Supernormal and Marion \u2013 among others \u2013 each with their own distinct identity, are enduringly popular and often booked out.<\/p>\n The boy from Balwyn had already become a towering figure in the dining scene before Gimlet swung open its doors<\/a> in the depths of the pandemic. But the high-end European-style diner bathed in soft butterscotch lighting upped the stakes and propelled him firmly onto the global stage.<\/p>\n Recently taking on more of a creative, less day-to-day role, McConnell has surrounded himself with the best in the business. He shuns the spotlight but the omnipotent founder is still known to jump in at any moment with an opinion about cutlery, artwork, anything.<\/p>\n After all, despite the success, accolades and power, he isn\u2019t above trimming the plants at Gimlet himself, on occasion.<\/p>\n The secret deal behind the end of a Spring Street era<\/p>\n It took just 15 minutes for McConnell to acquire what will be his highly anticipated next venture \u2013 a French and Spanish-inspired restaurant named C\u00f4te Basque<\/a>, due to open this winter.<\/p>\n This sort of business deal would usually take much longer, but longtime Becco owner Simon Hartley had a long list of people to whom he\u2019d never contemplate handing over the lease of his iconic Italian eatery.<\/p>\n Just around the corner from Pellegrini\u2019s and a magnet for the Spring Street crowd (as well as the late Beatle George Harrison), this near three-decade old institution couldn\u2019t be entrusted to just anyone. Only one name made it onto Hartley\u2019s list of possible successors.<\/p>\n McConnell visited a couple of times and that was it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like handing over the baton, possibly to Carl Lewis,\u201d Hartley said, referencing the nine-time Olympic champion.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt very, very secure about it.\u201d<\/p>\n What sealed it for Hartley, above McConnell\u2019s seemingly Midas touch? A type of humility which just \u201cdoesn\u2019t happen\u201d with other restaurateurs, he said.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cThe way he does it is just humble. He doesn\u2019t jump up and down or sing and dance. He just goes about his business,\u201d Harley said.<\/p>\n McConnell\u2019s publicist insists he is discreet and modest, knocking back most media requests. He declined to be interviewed for this series profiling restaurant tycoons, despite two approaches through his publicist and one directly by text message. However, McConnell is simply too influential to ignore.<\/p>\n \u201cI do appreciate the opportunity to comment, I haven\u2019t done in-person interviews for many years,\u201d McConnell said by text message.<\/p>\n \u201cBelieve it or not I prefer to stay out of the limelight, and keep the focus on the restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n A premier\u2019s preference: Why Daniel Andrews prefers the diplomat of dining<\/p>\n Former premier Daniel Andrews is among Gimlet\u2019s highest-profile customers. Political sources say his inner circle deliberately shuns venues owned by one of the other big players in the city\u2019s dining scene, Chris Lucas<\/a>.<\/p>\n Conversations about McConnell\u2019s influence on Melbourne rarely come without a comparison with Lucas.<\/p>\n Related Article A sharp critic of the state Labor government during the pandemic, Lucas was one of the loudest opponents of former premier Daniel Andrews. A blistering interview with 3AW\u2019s Neil Mitchell was described as a \u201ctear-here\u201d moment for calls to end lockdowns, while Andrews\u2019 wife Catherine attempted to make a booking at one of his venues but was told a table was unavailable<\/a>. <\/p>\n But even at the height of a tumultuous March 2020, when Gimlet\u2019s grand opening was scuppered by the city\u2019s first lockdown, McConnell remained tactfully apolitical. His harshest criticism was revealing \u201ca bit of anger<\/a>\u201d months later and signing an open letter calling for hospitality venues to reopen safely.<\/p>\n Approached by email, the former premier wouldn\u2019t mention Lucas by name and only had praise for the other big hospitality boss in town.<\/p>\n \u201cAndrew McConnell is pure Melbourne: high quality and relentlessly positive,\u201d Andrews said in early March.<\/p>\n \u201cHe runs Melbourne\u2019s best restaurants \u2013 just ask his staff and his patrons.\u201d<\/p>\n Inside the quiet life of a $20 million \u2018art nerd\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important person is the customer,\u201d McConnell said in a 2018 interview with ANZ\u2019s Bluenotes<\/a> focussing on his business success.<\/p>\n \u201cOften I find a lot of chefs slave away in the kitchen for too many years and they forget they are actually cooking for people outside that door.\u201d<\/p>\n Oliver Shorthouse, who founded premier fresh fruit and vegetable supplier Ramarro Farm as a weekend side hustle while working with McConnell, remembers him peeking out at diners. Now a supplier, he can always tell when his old boss is shaking things up.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he\u2019s in a restaurant, you know it \u2013 we start getting requests [like] \u2018we want displays of big artichokes\u2019, or \u2018can you bring in half a fig tree to put on display?\u2019,\u201d Shorthouse said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat level of creativity, attention to detail and focus on the guest experience is really what Andrew does brilliantly, apart from the culinary side.\u201d<\/p>\n He is a chef first and foremost rather than a businessman, Shorthouse concludes, with a unique skill to present a dish in a particularly creative and beautiful way.<\/p>\n A self-described Melbourne boy, McConnell has attributed much of his success to gut instinct developed from growing up in the city, raising his family in the suburbs and knowing how people want to eat.<\/p>\n Frequently described as a family man, McConnell, 57, keeps a low profile. A photo of him and McGann at the Australian Open Men\u2019s Final in 2025 is among just a handful of media photos of the couple in public.<\/p>\n \u201cMy relationship with Andrew works because we are both very considerate of each other,\u201d McGann told Domain<\/a> in 2022. \u201cOur lives are very social, but we always make time for just the two of us. A priority for us is to stay connected despite the busy-ness of work and family life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Described in the piece as \u201cmore involved in the business than she is keen to take credit for\u201d, McGann is a professional photographer and has worked closely with McConnell for well over a decade. The couple recently sold their $20 million-plus Toorak mansion<\/a> and bought a Robin Boyd-designed home<\/a> in the same locale. But McConnell hasn\u2019t always lived in luxury.<\/p>\n The eldest of six siblings from a Catholic family raised in Balwyn and Box Hill North, money was tight but a love of good food was instilled early, he recounted in this masthead in 2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eating was treated as a ritual. McConnell\u2019s parents ran a catering company, and as a 13-year-old he requested lamb brains for his birthday dinner mainly \u201cout of curiosity and to annoy my siblings\u201d, he told Dani Valent<\/a>. All three McConnell boys found success in food; younger brother Matthew opened popular Mediterranean restaurant Bar Lourinh\u00e3, while Sean has Canberra haunt Rebel Rebel. Cousin Jason McConnell co-owns San Telmo.<\/p>\n He attended Bulleen\u2019s sporty Marcellin College, where he was in the thirds football team, and worked at Marchetti\u2019s Latin before starting his formal training at Capers in Kew. But he wasn\u2019t always set on a career in food. \u201cI was an art nerd but I also liked cooking, and it was easier to get a chef\u2019s apprenticeship than get into art school,\u201d McConnell told Valent.<\/p>\n By his late 20s, cooking for Madonna, Prince, Tom Jones and other celebrities was already in his rearview mirror, along with his first head-chef gig at Hong Kong\u2019s M at the Fringe then Shanghai\u2019s M on the Bund \u2013 both owned by Melburnian Michelle Garnaut<\/a>. Between two overseas stints, he returned home and worked with pioneering chef Tansy Good.<\/p>\n From Good Food to Gordon Ramsay: Andrew McConnell\u2019s string of hits<\/p>\n The last thing McConnell would want is for a diner to walk into a restaurant like Supernormal and think \u201cthat\u2019s an Andrew McConnell restaurant\u201d, he once told the Australian Financial Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a great fear of becoming homogenised in what we do, so retaining a sense of individual personality is really important in every one of our venues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Officially, the collection of restaurants founded by McConnell and various business partners now known as Trader House kicked off with all-day eatery Cumulus Inc. but its origins can be found in an unassuming iron lattice-clad terrace on Brunswick Street, in the same block as popular Fitzroy pub Labour in Vain.<\/p>\n Opened by Andrew, brother Matthew and Andrew\u2019s ex-wife Pascale Gomes-McNabb, Dining Room 211 on Brunswick Street was a hit. Gomes-McNabb, a respected architect, was commended for its modern design, while the brothers McConnell were named joint Young Chefs of the Year in the 2002 Good Food Guide.<\/p>\n From there, the accolades kept coming. The then-couple opened euro diner Mrs Jones which then became Three, One, Two.<\/a> He also took on Circa at The Prince Hotel, owned by Frank and John Van Haandel of Stokehouse<\/a> fame, elevating the two-hatted restaurant to the coveted triple. By 2006, he won his first Chef of the Year gong.<\/p>\n Next came Cumulus Inc., where everything changed.<\/p>\n It was an early adopter of the no-bookings policy and so hundreds queued for a taste of a lightning-strike menu at the all-day eatery where everything simply worked. Dinner-quality food served at breakfast, champagne and oysters perpetually on order and ingredients firmly in the spotlight. Its signatures, tuna tartare and slow-roasted lamb shoulder \u2013 considered out of the box at the time \u2013 appeared on the menu during the first year and stayed there ever since.<\/p>\n The Flinders Lane rag-trade district was still transforming to a restaurant precinct when it opened in 2008. Cumulus\u2019 striking interior, designed by McNabb, has barely changed, and has hosted everyone from Beyonc\u00e9 and Jay Z to groups of students.<\/p>\n No one predicted what a success it would be. Least of all Josh Murphy, its first head chef.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a small kitchen, a small cool room, there was no back-of-house, there was only 65 to 70 seats. It sort of blew up out of nowhere,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be able to do it now, but you had to be young and we had to just run all day, morning to night.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after, the Gertrude Street takeover. Cutler and Co, a fine diner in a former metal works factory, opened in 2009 followed by up-market pub Builders Arms Hotel, co-owned with Murphy (who now owns Beautiful Jim Key as well as Harley and Rose) and Anthony Hammond.<\/p>\n Wine bar Marion arrived in 2015. Described in the Good Food Guide as \u201coften imitated but rarely matched\u201d, it earned a legion of fans including celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. \u201cWhen I hear Michelin is in Dubai, I\u2019m like, \u2018Why isn\u2019t it in Melbourne?\u2019\u201d Ramsay told Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveller<\/a> of Marion. \u201cBecause the place is thriving. This place just lifted the neighbourhood, and it was exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, Melbourne went mad for lobster rolls. You know the ones. Medallions of lobster tail coated in creamy kewpie mayo served on buttery brioche. It quickly became a cult favourite that outlasted its first home, Golden Fields in St Kilda, before appearing at Asian-inspired Supernormal. McConnell had returned to the flavours he encountered over years in China and travels through Japan.<\/p>\n Specialty butcher and wine store Meatsmith was the first push into retail, opened with butcher Troy Wheeler, a friend before the pair went into business. But this wasn\u2019t just any old butchery. Bespoke fridges were designed to mimic jewellery store cabinets and its Smith Street, Fitzroy, home settled on only as it\u2019s close to a greengrocer, supermarket and bakery. It also supplies the group\u2019s restaurants.<\/p>\n Glamorous Gimlet\u2019s delayed debut finally came in July 2020. \u201cWhat it did, in some ways, was restore confidence and brought life back to the city,\u201d Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sally Curtain said. <\/p>\n The same year, while keeping plates spinning at the top end of town, trendy grocery-bakery store Morning Market opened months after beginning as a lockdown-era pop-up at Marion. Moody cocktail bar Apollo Inn opened in 2023, still with queues to get in most days.<\/p>\n Then something unexpected \u2013 a shift not to the harbourside city, but to the Sunshine state with Supernormal Brisbane and Bar Miette opening in July 2024.<\/p>\n A cradle of excellence <\/p>\n Former Trader House staffers liken their time in the business to a restaurant bootcamp due to the intensity and high level of training. While the Builders Arms crew is a more tight-knit group, the work environment is more formal and competitive at the fine diners. No matter which business, though, Trader House is known to build perfectionists. The company name on a CV opens doors and secures interviews across Australia.<\/p>\n In 2022, Gimlet was awarded 84th best restaurant globally in the World\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants\u2019 extended list, one of just a handful of local eateries to get the nod. It brought international attention. Visit Victoria chief executive Brendan McClements said tourists actively seek out McConnell\u2019s venues as must-do experiences when they come to Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cMelbourne\u2019s reputation as a global dining destination is built on world\u2011class talent and a dining culture that consistently draws food\u2011motivated travellers to the city,\u201d he said. \u201cAndrew McConnell\u2019s Trader House restaurants have played a defining role in cementing that reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n It also upped the stakes \u2013 and pressure \u2013 for those working there. Several former Gimlet staff, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the global ranking changed the tone. They detailed a shift in culture and frustrations of working at a customer-first organisation.<\/p>\n Related Several recounted abrupt endings after wonderful years, with some leaving hospitality altogether but others still in the industry. None was willing to go on the record. At the same time, others in similar roles describe their time at Trader House as one of the most rewarding professional experiences of their lives. They wouldn\u2019t hesitate taking another interview or have hired fellow Trader House alumni based on knowing they are among the very best in the business. They also appear copiously in the list of Good Food Guide awards.<\/p>\n Builders Arms co-owner Anthony Hammond said McConnell doesn\u2019t dig his heels in, he sees when something isn\u2019t working and quickly changes direction. \u201c[It] shows a deep sense of \u2013 how do I put this \u2013 way of thinking that you are not the be-all and end-all,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cIt\u2019s unusual among a lot of business people.\u201d He said McConnell has a deep trust in senior management and doesn\u2019t badmouth staff who strike it out on their own.<\/p>\n Trader House development chef John Paul Twomey left for Carlton Wine Room then Baker Bleu before returning. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of chefs that have the fashion and the design side, you can see that in all these restaurants,\u201d Twomey said.<\/p>\n Take the chefs who drop everything to work there and are inspired by the founder\u2019s propensity to jump at opportunities, such as chef Raphael Exton-Pery, who took a pay cut and stepped back in his career just to work at Gimlet.<\/p>\n He rejects the limelight, but, hey \u2026 it\u2019s Stanley Tucci<\/p>\n Even at the height of the MasterChef phenomenon, McConnell appeared only once. He is also largely quiet during an episode of Anthony Bourdain\u2019s No Reservations and seldom pops up on food shows.<\/p>\n But he wasn\u2019t always so camera shy. More than a decade ago, McConnell permitted Vice\u2019s Munchies to film a night out<\/a> with mates which ended with the celebrated chef deep-frying cheese at Cumulus. It\u2019s known he suffered a painful skateboard injury<\/a> requiring surgery, and during the pandemic he detailed the importance of exercise for his mental health<\/a>, also giving a shoutout to his dermal therapist.<\/p>\n Ben Shewry, who worked for and with McConnell before establishing award-winning eatery Attica, famously wrote a book, Uses for Obsession, in which he was critical of journalists<\/a> who turn their hand to writing about restaurants. If McConnell holds similar views, he does not make it widely known.<\/p>\n However, while Shewry built a local following on social media channels as he eschews the mainstream, McConnell has largely maintained a low profile. His last public Instagram post was more than a year ago, and despite his restaurants catering to the rich and very famous, discretion is maintained at all costs. He has posted only one celebrity photo. It is with actor and writer Stanley Tucci, known in gastronomic circles for his travel food program Searching for Italy. It was taken at an industry event, outside of his restaurants.<\/p>\n A \u2018genre-defining\u2019 presence in Melbourne: Age reviewer<\/p>\n In 2025, after years working as an anonymous reviewer, The Age\u2019s chief restaurant critic Besha Rodell revealed herself. Hitherto anonymous everywhere \u2013 except Trader House. Since about 2021, her photo was plastered onto the walls of its offices.<\/p>\n Rodell was well aware after a staffer came up and told her at a private gathering. A third party had given her name to the restaurant before she visited Cutler as part of a group dinner and someone took a photo of her surreptitiously, she explained.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no kind of anonymity that is perfect and I\u2019m actually really proud that they were the only people who had a photo of me, Trader House was,\u201d Rodell said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a really long time Chris Lucas thought he had a photo of me, but it was my sister, and she got great, great service.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodell has never written a bad review of a McConnell restaurant. She describes him as a rare chef who engages with criticism thoughtfully and while some of his contemporaries have seen their empires crumble underneath them, McConnell\u2019s success is notable for his longevity.<\/p>\n![\"Fabio,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/b8a049843c4352d608e183be19e2c9c500ec7f47.jpeg\")
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Andrew McConnell at Cumulus Inc in 2019. Eddie Jim<\/p>\n![\"Fitzroy\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/d555281c23ebd1b9f4718d72c047cdf517146575.jpeg\")
Fitzroy\u2019s Cutler & Co, now Cutler, pictured in 2025.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774647796_284_a558f2fdb84814c58ec22cb28d0d3e42ed66959f82712f80d09725c2a684cea8.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/22a327ed55ef6121bd9287158b0aac5855b659fe.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Raw](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ae6f86dd60dc1619ffef639085b0ec3aa1916b15.jpeg\")
Raw tuna, anchovy, green olive and smoked chilli at Gimlet.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1c1bdbacd93fe798b0fd49ae18a94e75ad047f52.jpeg\")
Andrew McConnell with wife Jo McGann, left, at the Australian Open Men\u2019s Final in 2025.Arsineh Houspian<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/88037ebafede10802e16fce1c40d2bcad5b827b7.jpeg\")
The family that cooks together \u2026 from left, Andrew, Sean and Matt McConnell at the Good Food Guide Awards in 2018.Kristoffer Paulsen<\/p>\n![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/369d189bf0e860f5fe06d54fa5e3ae944ae6f44c.jpeg\")
Andrew McConnell with former wife and restaurant architect Pascale Gomes-McNabb at Carlton\u2019s Three, One, Two in 2003.Gary Medlicott<\/p>\n![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/14fbb1d0b5702fa2c0a5dd00155679ae7d9a82d2.jpeg\")
Andrew McConnell greeting diners during an event at Cumulus Inc. in 2019.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7a234b01b34e94b8b8ad6e9c7e87ca153fef61f2.jpeg\")
The trend-setting lobster roll which McConnell migrated from St Kilda\u2019s Golden Fields to become a signature dish at CBD outfit, Supernormal Eddie Jim<\/p>\n![\"Meatsmith](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9ba3190740d041a46b33c8b70d783bd1c912af13.jpeg\")
Meatsmith in Smith Street, Collingwood, was McConnell\u2019s first foray into retail.Danie Sprague<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/91cb8c5920348e420be71493e373d265afff695c.jpeg\")
The raw scallop, peach agrodolce and creme fraiche dish at Gimlet.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n![\"Restaurant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/107e9a18177a8a7953bf24a3eaae5cad75732435924b38f6afccfc6f204d2eec.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Melbourne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/946cff2abab3132a72a12650ba496ea3697083bb.jpeg\")
Melbourne chef Andrew McConnell with Stanley Tucci, left, in London for The World\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants in 2022.@chef_andrewmcconnell\/instagram<\/p>\n![\"\u201cHe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7916a5ab77c23782472eab21669ca61e148846a5.jpeg\")
\u201cHe has not opened a restaurant in Melbourne that hasn\u2019t just been kind of genre-defining for that era, ever\u201d: Besha Rodell.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n
![\"Melbourne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/609ab2124902bbd372147152e120e75aeda14019b3ea92d0efa043b48981b7b7.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/22b60b6c7c0287b116fa17edb6e28a72a962812f.jpeg\")
The bar at Gimlet exudes a Roaring Twenties feel.Penny Stephens<\/p>\n