Behind an unassuming door on Stephenson Street, Lilac Wine has settled into its corner of Cremorne with a fairly simple proposition: good bottles, food cooked over fire and a room designed for staying a while.
Part of Nathan Toleman’s The Mulberry Group, the 100 seat wine bar occupies a converted warehouse of exposed brick, paned windows and pared back interiors. At its centre is the open kitchen, built around a woodfired oven and large grill where Head Chef Nick Pasieka does much of the heavy lifting over flame.
French trained and Irish British by heritage, Pasieka grew up in France before eventually landing in Melbourne. His cooking leans naturally towards charcuterie, smoke and flame, with a menu that moves from smaller drinking snacks into plates straight from the fire.
That might mean a gilda of pickled chilli, tomato and olive with pomegranate and paprika, or Medjool dates stuffed with tapenade, followed by bluefin tuna crudo with habanero. From the grill, there’s charcoal chicken with thyme jus and grass fed scotch fillet with red wine jus gras, while woodfired cauliflower arrives with roasted capsicum sugo. A $75 chef’s menu leaves the decisions to the kitchen.
Wine is given equal footing. Sommelier Darcy Curnow, formerly of Maha and the Scott Pickett Group, has built the list around smaller and more considered producers, with organic and biodynamic bottles featuring heavily. Behind the bar, 2026 Australian World Class bartender Kayla Saito leads a seasonal cocktail program.
There’s another thread running through the kitchen. Lilac works alongside Common Ground Project, The Mulberry Group’s regenerative farm in Freshwater Creek, with the menu shifting alongside what is being grown. A percentage of the venue’s profits is also directed back into the project, supporting regenerative agriculture, food relief and employment pathways.
Come Friday, the music gets turned up and DJs move into the room, completing what Lilac seems to do particularly well: removing some of the ceremony from serious food and wine.
A warehouse, a bottle on the table, something cooking over charcoal and nowhere particularly urgent to be.