The team behind this award-winning spot, loved by locals and daytrippers, have big plans for a new site. And it’s just a stone’s throw from the original.
One of Daylesford’s most-beloved venues, the hatted Bar Merenda, is close to serving its last terrine and coq au vin in its Howe Street digs, but it’s not the end of the road.
Owners Andy and Clare Ainsworth will reopen Merenda in a new two-storey location in Daylesford this spring, operating as a separate restaurant and wine bar while keeping the Merenda name.
“This beautiful building came up that we’ve always loved,” says Andy. “It’s built in the 1850s and it’s full of so much character and so much potential.
“We’re going to put in a full new kitchen, but keep the beautiful bones intact.”
The Ainsworths opened the bar in 2021 with a mission to bring a European-style wine bar to one of Australia’s richest regions for small-scale and artisan produce. In 2023, the venue was named Bar of the Year by The Age Good Food Guide.
The new venue, “just 500 metres down the road”, will have a separate dining room with a set menu from current chefs Oliver Edwards and Brianna Smith (both ex-Summertown Aristologist, South Australia). Downstairs will operate as a drop-in wine bar with snacks.
“It will have all the things people love about Merenda, with an opportunity to go either for the wine bar or for the restaurant,” says Andy.
Merenda’s current space, a cosy single room lined with wine bottles and artwork by Clare Ainsworth, does double-duty as bar and restaurant.
At the new space, a wood-fired grill will power the kitchen, but classical European dishes that showcase produce from local farmers will remain the focus.
That and Andy’s impressive collection of wines from Victorian, French and Italian producers has made the venue a beloved stop for visiting chefs, many of whom collaborated with the venue on events.
To see out their final weeks, the team are planning some extra-special events, along the lines of the wine parties and cookbook-themed menus they regularly host.
“There’ll be a big party for sure,” says Andy.
While a final service is not set yet, Andy says the end of August is the most likely date, with plans to reopen with the same team sometime in spring.
The Ainsworths have the keys to the new site and have started the demolition and floor planning.
Shop 3, 22-24 Howe Street, Daylesford, barmerenda.com.au
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Emma Breheny – Emma is Good Food’s Melbourne eating out and restaurant editor and editor of The Age Good Food Guide.
