Ladro co-owner Ingrid Langtry juggles her two restaurants in Prahran and Fitzroy. Source: Herald Sun
THEY always suspected the Yarra River was Melbourne's great divide.
But Sean Kierce and Ingrid Langtry knew for sure when they opened Ladro in Fitzroy in October, 2003. Their Italian-inspired restaurant on then rundown Gertrude St was a hit from day one - reservations were made weeks ahead - and word quickly spread that its slender, wood-fired pizzas were worth crossing town for.
"One Sunday night," Kierce recalls, "this well-dressed couple came in and we told them they'd have to wait a while. They said, 'Whaddya mean you haven't got a table? We've come all the way from Armadale'!"
Langtry laughs, "We felt like saying, 'Do you want us to stamp your passports?"'
Ladro's southside customers have no reason to grizzle now. Ladro Greville has been on their doorstep since 2010 and this 120-seat diner - bigger and brasher than the Fitzroy mothership - is thriving.
As Langtry says, "For years, we were over-subscribed and constantly saying, 'Sorry, no'. Now we can say, 'Yes come in, we do have room'."
Ladro is not the only food business working both sides of the river. The St Ali group, founded on specialist coffee, has firm footholds in South Melbourne and North Carlton. Fonda Mexican in Richmond (which opened in 2011) spawned a super-sized sibling in Windsor in March. And last week, DOC - a Carlton hot spot for mozzarella, salumi and pizza - expanded into Albert Park.
Then there's Misty's Diner. This late-night fixture in Prahran has just opened a northern outpost in Reservoir and cowboy-hatted proprietor Misty Tsotras reports, "We're so friggin' busy in 'Rezza'. Really, I don't know why I didn't open there sooner."
Ladro in Prahran is just as popular as the original. Source: Herald Sun
THE CULTURAL GAP
Build a brand in one place and there's always a temptation to take it somewhere else and potentially double your money. Neil Perry has blazed a trail nationally with Rockpool satellites in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. But none of the restaurateurs interviewed for this story owned up to such a grand expansion plan. Quite the opposite.
Before opening second sites, they fretted about being seen as a franchise - the antithesis of cool. They worried about compromising quality by stretching themselves too thinly. And they wondered if their "brands" were strong enough to make a leap across town.
Salvatore Malatesta, creative director of the St Ali Family, reckons "the river divides the culture of Melbourne and that divide is strong. You're either a south or a north person and I know people who will not cross the Yarra for anything."
Fonda Mexican proprietors Tim McDonald and David Youl can vouch for that, with customers from Elwood and St Kilda telling them how pleased they were to have a "local" Fonda in Windsor.
"That's amazed us," Youl says, "because Richmond is only another 2.2km down the tram line. But mentally, that's not how it's seen. There's a cultural gap in this town. An us-and-them mentality."
The original St Ali has become a South Melbourne institution. Source: Herald Sun
SAME-SAME BUT DIFFERENT
Crossing the river has never been a big deal to Ladro's Kierce and Langtry. These designers-turned-restaurateurs are South Yarra residents and have long commuted to Fitzroy by bike. But opening a second Ladro, which they call "same-same but different",
the duo discovered their brand was a newbie on the south side.
Kierce remembers, "People were coming in and saying, 'Oh, we've never heard of you before'."
Three years on, Langtry says: "Our customers are like two circles that cross over occasionally. They don't often overlap."
Demographic studies can help identify differences. Malatesta prefers "gut instinct" and on a weekday morning at St Ali South, a loft-style space off a laneway, this hyperactive cafe mogul is scoping the room.
"On any day, you can get eight to 10 different sub-cultures here," he says. "A bunch of football players and models at the same time as your architects and graphic designers and guys who play with the Melbourne Symphony. That's because we're close to the city without being in it, right in the creative agency heartland." St Ali North - which opened in December - attracts a different crowd. Slap bang on the Carlton-Brunswick border, beside a busy bike path, this breezy venue is always charged with the lycra brigade. They especially like the ride-through coffee hatch.
But Malatesta's newest venue is also attracting "the new breed of kids who've moved in - the hipsters who ride bikes and eat dahl - and the double-income no-kid couples who live in the area by choice".
Then there are the families.
St Ali North in Carlton is a beacon for cyclists, hipsters and families. Picture: Andy Drewitt Source: Herald Sun
KEEPING IT LOCAL
"There's no way in the world we'd ever have a playground in the south," Malatesta says. But St Ali North proudly sets swings and slides on its 400sq m patch. So, what connects the St Ali "family"?
"North and South have a common DNA and that's coffee. That's our anchor, our philosophy and design aesthetic. But when it comes to the food and service offering, they're completely different."
Gun chef Andy Gale (Duchess of Spotswood) has just come on as a "kitchen elder" to oversee both St Ali sites and his menus are finely attuned to local preferences.
In the south, people are mad for a truffle-scented medley of mushroom, potato hash and poached eggs. In the north, medium-rare wagyu beef burgers are all the go. One hit dish bridges the divide and that's My Mexican Cousin (corn fritters with poached eggs, grilled haloumi, rocket and tomato relish).
Over at Fonda Mexican, the fish taco and beef burrito are "hands down" the most popular items across both venues. Youl explains, "All the old favourites made their way south, but at Windsor, there's another option in every category of the menu."
That's because Fonda's second site - barely four months old - occupies a heritage building three times as big as the original on Swan St. Windsor's spacious open kitchen allows for "exclusive" dishes such as Aztec soup (chicken, lime, parsley), pulled pork quesadillas and a Mexican flan while a roomy upstairs bar (Attic) deepens the tide of tequila for a party-happy neighbourhood.
The two amigos behind Fonda (which translates as "a family home") maintain quality control by "keeping things centralised" but Youl (a fireman) and McDonald (a lawyer) are not losing sight of their original intention: to create a "quick, convenient, fun" Mexican cantina "open to anyone passing by".As McDonald says, "We can be a multiple store concept but we don't want a cookie-cutter feel."
Plenty more room for taco fiends at Fonda in Windsor. Source: Herald Sun
STILL GOT CHARACTER
Franchise fears have spooked the Ladro team as well. Customers kept encouraging Kierce and Langtry to open on the south side and Greville St appealed to them because of its "village feel". But just ahead of Ladro Greville's opening, the pair had second thoughts about the name.
"It is a good, strong brand," Kierce says. "But would it invite comparisons with the north?"
For a while, it did and the general consensus was: Ladro Greville's pizzas were good but not great. Kierce concedes they had trouble with Prahran's oven (hemisphere-shaped instead of an igloo) and the team worked hard to get it in sync with Fitzroy. Another decision, to acknowledge the two venues with a signature nord and sud pizza, also backfired when neither of them sold well.
Langtry says, "It made us work in more with what our customers were looking for."
Ladro Greville has never looked back. Family groups surge in and out. So do the twentysomethings "who drink a lot and don't eat much", the couples "who have a babysitter at home" and the "older crowd who lean back and take their time".
Langtry says, "The various 'tribes' in the south seem clearer than they are in the north. The average age here is probably younger."
And are their tastes different? Si. Gluten-free pizza sells strongly at Ladro Greville, while "anything with mushrooms, speck or taleggio" walks out the door at Ladro Gertrude. Then there's drink. Kierce puts James Boag on tap in the south and "bang, off it goes. Over there (in Fitzroy), they want craft beers".
Wine is another divide. Customers explore Italian varietals at Ladro Gertrude. Southside, people tend to go with Australian wines they know. Langtry shrugs, "Perhaps there's a more ingrained food culture on the other side, I don't know."
McDonald suspects the next dining trend "will come from the north" but that's not where he and Youl are looking to build a third Fonda Mexican. Flinders Lane is in their sights.
Malatesta, meanwhile, has his eyes on Sydney, with plans to open a St Ali in Bondi next month. As for Ladro ... "We've got two kids and two restaurants. Between us we've got our hands full," Kierce says.
But, pressed, he and Langtry admit they would like to see their business operating "somewhere coastal, somewhere on the east coast of Australia."
Mmmm ... a long way from Armadale.
A small space doesn't stop the crowds at Fonda in Richmond. Source: Herald Sun
DOUBLING THE FUN
NORTH: ST ALI NORTH
815 Nicholson St, Carlton Nth.
Ph: 9380 5455
Vibe: Mod urban playground
Customers: Cylists, hipsters, kids
They like: St Ali Royale (wagyu beef burger, smoked bacon, aged cheddar)
SOUTH: ST ALI SOUTH
12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne. Ph: 9686 2990
Vibe: Laneway hubbub
Customers: Creatives, sports people, couples
They like: Koo Coo Ca Chu (crispy potato hash, mushroom duxelle, poached eggs)
NORTH: LADRO GERTRUDE
224 Gertrude St, Fitzroy.
Ph: 9415 7575
Vibe: Cool, classic
Customers: Hipsters, local residents
They like: Porcini pizza
SOUTH: LADRO GREVILLE
162 Greville St, Prahran.
Ph: 9510 2233
Vibe: Jumping joint
Customers: Twentysomethings, families
They like: San Daniele pizza
NORTH: FONDA MEXICAN
248 Swan St, Richmond.
Ph: 9429 0085
Vibe: Jaunty, family-style
Customers: Mates and dates
They like: Fish tacos
SOUTH: FONDA MEXICAN
144 Chapel St, Windsor.
Ph: 9521 2660
Vibe: Party, party
Customers: Groups,
lots of gals
They like: Pulled pork quesadilla
ALSO ...
MISTY’S DINER PRAHRAN
(103-105 High St, Prahran)/MISTY’S DINER RESERVOIR (765 Gilbert Rd, Reservoir)
Burgers, brats and a bucket of Bud ... Misty’s star-spangled manner has fans on both sides of town.
DOC CARLTON
(295 Drummond St, Carlton)
/DOC ALBERT PARK
(135 Victoria Ave, Albert Park)
Tony Nicolini adds a south-side satellite to his galaxy of “simple” Italian eateries.
TWO BIRDS ONE STONE (12 Claremont St, Sth Yarra)/TOP PADDOCK (658 Church St, Richmond)
Just six months apart in age, these bright, sophisticated cafes almost look at each other across the Yarra.
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