A mega three-storey pub gets liftoff in Malvern. Here’s what you need to know

In a win for Melbourne’s inner south-east, the 170-year-old Angel of Malvern pub is pouring beers again this weekend following a monumental six-month overhaul. The ground-floor public bar is the first of three venues being rolled out at the former Angel Tavern this year under new hospitality group Refinery, owned by property developer Kokoda.

After years of being starved of elevated watering holes, locals are finally seeing a shift. Between the resurrection of The Angel and Australian Venue Co’s 2024 overhaul of the Gardiner Hotel, the area’s latest addition is poised to be its biggest drawcard yet.

“The goal is for it to feel like a proper local again, somewhere people return to regularly, but now with a pull that extends well beyond the neighbourhood,” says Mark Stevens, Refinery Group’s founder and managing director.

Gone are the dull green carpets and dated fitout of its former life as a pokies pub. The gaming room has been restored, but the focus has otherwise shifted to drinking and dining across the sprawling space.

Melbourne design firm Studio McCue installed a six-metre glass-ceilinged atrium, a beer garden featuring a festival-sized screen, and a swish new dining room adjoining the public bar that retains original brickwork and windows while tying in concrete and recycled timber.

“It’s quite a strong masculine building, so we’ve tried to keep that integrity,” Stevens says.

Executive chef Justin North, former owner of Sydney’s Becasse and an alumnus of Michelin-starred venues in Britain, has crafted a menu of pub classics and small plates, executed by head chef Josh Rudd (ex-HER in Melbourne CBD). It’s familiar territory but with a level of rigour that takes the offering beyond typical pub grub.

Fish is line-caught and sourced daily from two suppliers, Red Coral Seafood and Ocean Made. Free-range chicken schnitzels are cut, brined and crumbed in-house, served with potato puree and tarragon gravy. Sticky date pudding is heady with ginger, finished with a caramel sauce spiked with Melbourne-made Starward whisky. Pillowy house-baked focaccia bolsters dips and charcuterie, while the standard bowl of chips is anything but: these are made from scratch and triple-fried.

“It was about coming back to creating a beautiful neighbourhood venue, offering a menu that was approachable and not too clever,” North says. “It’s food that goes with drinking.”

Thirty-two taps pour favourites such as Stone & Wood’s Pacific ale, Balter XPA and Carlton Draught; a house Angel Lager, brewed in collaboration with Reservoir’s Hawkers brewery; and tap cocktails including a yuzu margarita.

Come winter, the group will unveil Mediterranean-inspired wine bar Flores on the first floor and late-night cocktail and listening bar Lately on the second to round out the venue’s trifecta.

The gleaming white corner pub anchors the colossal $450 million Malvern Collective, a residential development completed by Kokoda last September. Positioned at the junction of Glenferrie and Dandenong roads, this “lifestyle destination” comprises two glass towers with more than 200 apartments rising above a ground-floor retail precinct.