An under-the-radar spot for beer and izakaya-style food is about to be the name on everyone’s lips, as it nabs an ex-Yardbird chef who’s all about fun-forward dishes.
Benchwarmer has always been a craft beer bar first and foremost – a haven for hopheads in an otherwise under-served pocket of West Melbourne. But like the beer bars of Japan, food designed for drinking plays a strong supporting role, with owner Lachlan Jones adding more izakaya-style dishes since opening the doors in 2020.
Now, with new chef Geoff Marett at the helm, Benchwarmer’s food is in the spotlight: Marett comes fresh from Hong Kong’s Michelin-starred izakaya Yardbird.
Yardbird – loved by chefs and perennially packed – is known for its meticulous yakitori (Japanese charcoal-grilled chicken skewers) and relaxed atmosphere. It’s the kind of place where staff are encouraged to pull up a seat and share a drink with customers. Marett spent five years there, working his way from front-of-house into the kitchen and absorbing everything he could as a self-taught chef.
When democracy protests rocked Hong Kong in 2019, he returned to Australia, launching the pop-up series Nama Please, which he continues to run alongside his new role at Benchwarmer.
Marett will pay homage to Yardbird with a dedicated Sunday hibachi menu. “It’s like a Sunday roast, but Sunday sticks,” he says. The char-grilled skewers range from wasabi chicken hearts to gochujang-glazed pork belly and whatever else he feels like throwing on the coals.
The menu is more freewheeling the rest of the week, drawing from Marett’s time cooking in Japan, Cantonese-Australian heritage, and love of unexpected flavour combinations.
A sourdough crumpet comes piled with XO lamb, yuzu labneh and hot honey. Sake clams with lap cheong, the Chinese sausage, riff on Spanish-style mussels with chorizo. Marrett serves them with buns sourced from bakery chain Breadtop, which he brushes with confit garlic butter.
Specials lean into childhood favourites like Filet-o-Fish, which is reimagined with panko-crumbed rockling and tartare sauce flecked with takanazuke (pickled mustard greens). Marett’s spin on the slippery Cantonese rice rolls known as cheung fun features “grandma sauce” (house-made Lao Gan Ma chilli crisp), shiitake and oyster mushrooms, and cashew cream.
“I used to get them as a kid with satay sauce and sesame. This is a jazzed-up version but still has the elements of that street style.”
Working closely with Jones, Marett has crafted his food with beer in mind, and the menu lists a suggested style of beer for each dish. There’s also a good selection of sake from Jones’ import business Oishii World.
Dinner Wednesday-Sunday
345 Victoria Street, West Melbourne, benchwarmerbar.com.au
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