This all-day wine bar and its handwritten little black book has our reviewer hooked

Bar Local Drop hooks me instantly – before I even sit down. At the far end of the vast, pink-marble benchtop at the entrance to this coffee shop and wine bar, a chef is hand-cranking a pasta machine. In a cirrus cloud of flour caught in the evening’s golden rays, little casarecce tumble to the gleaming stone. The scene is open and warm, qualities that are borne out completely by the rest of the experience.

I’m here for dinner or an array of snacks and sips that, somehow, stretches happily from “a quick one” to “one more” to “we might as well”. But I’d gladly come back for a 9am meeting over espresso and a pastry. I’d also meet you here for lunch – maybe the casarecce loved up with comforting duck ragu? We might have wine with that, like a person might in Paris or Milan, where day-drinking is merely hydration.

Here since last April, this is the physical manifestation of The Local Drop, a wine-delivery network that owner Jagdev Singh launched in 2014. It’s a quirky business with most orders made by text or direct message: “I’m out and we’re drinking this tasty barbaresco. We’d love a dozen for home.” Singh’s team drives it over.

That personal approach is also apparent in the bar, which is overseen by Pierrick Gorrichon, a French sommelier who spent four years at two-hatted Gimlet. We could peruse his credentials, but I’d rather talk about his black, leather-bound book, a handwritten list of special and one-off wines that he crosses out as they’re consumed. In our digital world, it’s a highly appealing, analogue document that you’re invited to leaf through. There’s so much gatekeeping in wine: these guys have taken the gate off its hinges and flung it into a far paddock.

The 55-seat venue flows from an ex-industrial backstreet past the dining room’s browsable wine shelves to a plant-lined atrium shared with offices above. The 2024 building feels airy and tactile. Chef Damon McIvor (ex-Vex) runs a smart, small menu, workable for one-glass nibbles and long evenings. It reads Italian, but that’s more so diners can easily find a thread.

There’s pasta, always house-made. There are cheesy tapioca fritters, based on Brazil’s dadinho de tapioca, which are a key bar snack. Here, they’re topped with dill oil and anchovy. Puffy pizzetta is loaded with smoked mussels. Lamb skewers are dolloped with thyme salsa laced with bone marrow.

The kohlrabi dish is vegan, but anyone could fall for this crucifer, roasted in an umami bath of soy sauce and seaweed-infused water to a dramatic black and served with sunflower seed paste and jaunty remoulade.

There’s so much gatekeeping in wine: these guys have taken the gate off its hinges and flung it into a far paddock.

Jagdev Singh’s life in hospitality may have been leading to this moment. Important workplace stints have included Marios, the 40-year-old Fitzroy icon that introduced poised Euro service to Melbourne cafes, and MoVida, which brought relaxed excellence.

Bar Local Drop feels like a place Melbourne needs now. It’s smallish and anchored in place but with a confident world view. The food is direct and straightforward, but not dumbed-down. The drinks offering has a point of view, but the mood is expansive. Above all, it’s welcoming – in price point, attitude and sensibility.

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.