An arresting wine and food experience

 

A unique destination; a new chef, top-notch wines.

Sound like your style of event?

Barossa wine producer Hentley Farm is to partner with Olivine wine bar for a one-night-only wine experience inside the former HM Prison Pentridge in Melbourne.

Limited to 45 guests, the Hentley Farm Wine Experience dinner will be hosted by Olivine’s Michelin-trained executive chef Tom Hoy across two of Pentridge’s unique spaces - the Reflection Garden (above) and The Long Hall.

For those who missed the news, Pentridge has been transformed into a world-class hospitality destination.

Hentley Farm’s Nicholas Goss, a qualified winemaker and viticulturalist, will introduce the wines, while a former Pentridge prison guard will offer insights into what life was like behind the bluestone walls.

Guests will dine in B Division’s Long Hall - the dramatic backdrop for a seated, four-course dining experience.

Thinks appetizers like goat cheese and beetroot; chicken liver parfait, apple gel and almond tuile, and dishes including octopus carpaccio with roast pepper salsa, and roast duck breast, cherry gastrique, charred radicchio and hazelnut.

“This is a rare opportunity - not only to taste the exclusive H-Block range and Hentley Farm’s most iconic and new release wines - but to also have it paired with a bespoke menu created by a Michelin-trained chef, the calibre of Tom Hoy,” said Destination Pentridge general manager Christian Price.

“We have created a carefully considered experience where wine, cuisine and storytelling are deeply connected.”

Guests can further immerse in the experience with an optional overnight stay at The Interlude - a boutique hotel with 19 heritage suites carved from former prison cells.

The Hentley Farm Wine Experience Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, July 18. Tickets are $210 per person. Bookings HERE.

From a place of terror to a place of leisure

It used to be that HM Pentridge Prison was a destination to be avoided at all costs.

Today, on the 26th anniversary of the closure of the jail, TFE Hotels officially launched its 106-room Adina Hotel, Olivine wine bar, North & Common restaurant, Chapter Place events venue, and urban retreat The Interlude on the same site.

What was once a cold, hard place has been transformed into a billion-dollar dining and entertainment precinct.

TFE Hotels’ Regional General Manager for Victoria, Stephen Moore, said the unveiling of the Pentridge precinct was a sign that Melbourne’s tourism industry was continuing its post-pandemic recovery.

Moore said today's ribbon cutting, and ceremonial opening of a Heritage-listed red door into the converted prison wing, signalled the official launch of the TFE’ venues at the Heritage-listed site.



The launch followed a private event last week where Wurundjeri Elder, Uncle Bill Nicholson, conducted a Welcome to Country and ceremonial cleansing of the site.

The MP for Pascoe Vale, Anthony Cianflone, said the Pentridge Visitor and Entertainment Precinct was a game changer for Coburg and surrounds.

“Wine Bar, cuisine, wellness, accommodation, entertainment, history, culture, and tourism - all of which means a growing visitor economy, more jobs and skills for our community,” he said.

General Manager Jesse Kornoff (pictured above with Cianflone) said the 106-room Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne (which had its soft opening in February), Olivine wine bar and the eight Chapter Place events spaces had been well received by locals and travellers alike.

“We’ve had people coming in and staying because they’re genuinely interested in seeing what’s been hiding behind the bluestone walls; others were part of conferences or held events in our unique event spaces; and others still were simply attracted to the sheer convenience of our brand-new hotel being located halfway between Melbourne’s CBD and the airport.”

North & Common restaurant, with head chef Mark Glenn at the helm, will open to hotel guests this week and officially launch to the public on May 10, while Olivine wine bar, which opened last month, showcases the adaptive reuse of former prison cells.

Melbourne wine lovers should lock in this new destination

Melbourne has a new destination for wine lovers with the opening this week of Olivine wine bar in a new $1 billion dining and entertainment precinct on the old Pentridge Prison site. 

Perfect for a lock in!

Pentridge’s former cells have been transformed into a wine bar with a walk-in cellar door, intimate booths and a wine list curated by a star sommelier. 

Olivine seats 100 guests and features a list of more than 500 labels from local and international producers that has been crafted by sommelier Liinaa Berry.

“Our wine list is called the Book of Wine,” Berry says. 

“It has been curated to give context and narrative to wine, while watercolour illustrations [by local artist Elizabeth Nicholls] add punctuation to the text.

“The Book of Wine is categorised into chapters to give guests context. If you look for context that you like, then you will find the wines you love.. 

“The Book of Wine begins with a foreword and a synopsis and ends with an epilogue. The synopsis, for example, lists 150 wines that represents the diversity of the wine world. They are listed by stylistic expression, so it is easy to navigate.”

The chapters that follow are called the Producer’s Series, showcasing 35 producers and 350 wines across Australia and Europe. 

“Here, we put a lens to the people behind the wine,” says Berry. “We share stories of the rising stars, unsung heroes, and more established vignerons. We also dive deep into their historical significance, their defining style and regionality.

”Wine enthusiasts will find great pleasure in the classics and natural wine lovers will be delighted with some unusual suspects.” 

Olivine’s grazing menu features dishes like Japanese scallop tarts with a yuzu emulsion and dried tomato powder, and house-made chicken liver parfait with muscat and a brown butter tuile.

To keep non-wine lovers happy, there is a selection of signature cocktails and over 90 craft spirits, which have been sourced mainly from artisan producers. 

In a nod to Pentridge’s former role, small brass sparrows adorn the windows - a sculptural representation of the radio DJ called “Sparrow” who once lived inside the prison and served as a medium to convey messages between prisoners and their loved ones.

Berry will also curate the wine list for neighbouring restaurant North & Common, which is set to open in May.

For more details see www.olivinewinebar.com.au

Prison breaks very much in vogue for 2023

Time spent in jail will be very fashionable when TFE Hotels opens the new Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne in February, 2023.

The historic Pentridge Prison site is poised to become one of Australia’s highest-profile lifestyle destinations.

Developed by the Shayher Group, the 110-apartment hotel is part of a billion-dollar lifestyle precinct in Coburg which also includes residential apartments, shopping, dining outlets and an outdoor cinema.

"Whilst Pentridge was conceived as a place of confinement, it has been creatively transformed into a place of tranquillity," the developers say. "Together, we want to create an environment that people won’t want to leave, as opposed to never being able to leave."

The new-built portion of the Adina Pentridge has been added to a section of the former prison known as ‘Division B’, which has been repurposed into the hotel’s reception, modern glass hotel tower and porte cochere in a nod to the history of the site.

Located 8km from Melbourne CBD, the project sees a function centre located in the prison’s former chapel with beautiful high lead-light windows, making it a possible venue for weddings or business events.

The designers of the project, Cox Architecture, are known for their work on heritage projects including the Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa redevelopment near Daylesford in Victoria.



Gourmets and wine lovers can choose between bistro dining at North & Common, or chic wine bar Olivine, with chef Thomas Woods at the helm of both venues. Sommelier Liinaa Berry will be curating the wine lists, so expect a swag of minimal intervention choices.

North & Common diners can expect produce-driven seasonal menus.

“What we’re creating with the restaurant is a lively, welcoming space free of pretention that’s inviting for locals and travellers alike,” says chef Woods, who worked with Jacques Reymond and has operated Woodland House.

“At North & Common, we’re on a mission to deliver an ever-evolving dining experience with a focus on simple food and great techniques that highlight the natural quality of the produce. This will be accompanied and elevated by a thoughtful wine list.”

A typical meal could start with rock oysters served with a classic mignonette; followed by grilled calamari with an egg yolk dressing. Or perhaps grilled rib-eye, smoked bone marrow glaze with a horseradish cream.

“I am excited to work closely with producers that I’ve built a relationship with over the past 15 years to deliver a menu that pays homage to the first-class produce we have available in Victoria,” Woods said.

Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne has lead-in rates from $219 per night with an opening special offering 20% off the best available rate. 

See www.adinahotels.com/en/apartments/pentridge-melbourne/

  

Anyone for a night in jail?

If you have ever thought about spending a night in jail then Adina Hotels are ready and willing to help. 

 
The TFE Hotels group is behind the transformation of Melbourne’s notorious Pentridge Prison site into a mixed-use lifestyle precinct in suburban Coburg with the has breathed new life into the suburb of Coburg, with Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne to open towards the end of the year. 

TFE Hotels' Group Chief Operating Officer, Chris Sedgwick, said the developers, Shayher Group, had put much thought into the 125-room hotel. 

The former prison exercise yard will be the lobby while 19 heritage suites have been added to the former Division B section, which will offer guests the chance to stay in historic converted prison cells - each room is made up of either four or five cells - with all the modern conveniences.  
  
The prison’s former chapel will be used for weddings with a difference. 

 In Adelaide, meanwhile,  the 18-storey, 123-room Vibe Hotel Adelaide is the final piece of the Flinders Street precinct, developed over the past decade by Guava Lime. 

The first Vibe hotel in South Australia will open in early 2023.  
  
TFE Hotels Director of Development, John Sutcliffe, said the Flinders Street precinct is expected to act as a springboard for visitors wanting to experience the best of Adelaide's CBD.  
  
“The hotel's design-focused style really reflects the vibrant, inner-city community that Guava Lime have created around it,” he said. “There are fantastic restaurants, happening bars and music flooding the ground floor, with a restaurant planned for the top floors of the hotel.”  

Designed by multi award-winning Loucas Zahos Architects, one standout design feature is an Australian first, with guests able to cool down in a stylish pool (or sky bridge as the architects call it) that connects Vibe Hotel Adelaide to the neighbouring ONE Apartments.   
   
In Western Australia, Adina Fremantle is set to capitalise on Portside Rejuvenation Project and open in 2024. 

The new 142-room hotel - the first in Fremantle and the third Adina Apartment Hotel in Greater Perth - can expect water views over the Fremantle dock and a location close to the CBD.  

Sutcliffe said the hotel, which is comprised of studios, one bedders and a series of interconnecting rooms that form two-bedroom apartments, will offer views over the Freemantle Docks.  

“With the Fremantle Docks about to undergo a Barangaroo-style refresh, this is a really exciting and strategic location for TFE,” he said. “Conference guests will be well served as will cruise ship passengers when the nearby International Cruise terminal is completed.”  

“A rooftop pool (with a view corridor to the Docks), lobby bar and café, gym and light and airy meeting and events spaces complete the offering.”