As the only child of a long-time restaurant family (father George has Lygon Street eatery Villa Romana) 25-year-old Stephen Papagelou has big shoes to fill. No surprises that he's gone large for his first solo venture in Hawthorn.
The 180-seat all-day eatery occupies a space that once housed four shops, with an open plan dining room, a terrace-like breakfast area and a main dining room with black marble tables. Bonus points for resisting the temptation to cram another 20 seats in – there's definitely room to move.
Since opening in November they've lost original head chef Quim Hernandez Maluquer, whose menu of mostly Italian-leaning pizza and pasta dishes, including a classic egg yolk and guanciale spaghetti carbonara, is still in play. It'll get a shake up as new head chef Marc Brown settles into his role.
"We didn't want to be an Italian or Spanish restaurant … we wanted the freedom to create anything," Papagelou says of left-of-field dishes such as miso cobia on banana leaf and chargrilled calamari with Sriracha-accented taramasalata coming from the kitchen..
Open daily 8am-11pm.
818 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, 9818 3600, ateoneate.com.au