Carnation Canteen’s new bar – in the original Gerald’s site – is already a neighbourhood hotspot

For those well acquainted with the original Gerald’s Bar – a Carlton North icon that recently relocated to Nicholson Street – visiting its Rathdowne Street birthplace is now a little disorientating. The layout feels familiar, but almost everything else feels fresh.

In just six weeks, it’s taken on a new form as Bar Carnation, a just-as-beautiful but marginally more booze-focused sibling for Fitzroy restaurant Carnation Canteen, a Good Food Guide Critics’ Pick.

Owner-chef Audrey Shaw, a Gerald’s regular, was initially daunted when Gerald Diffey tapped her to take over. But if opening night was anything to go by, she shouldn’t have been. “Gerald and [business partner] Mario [Di Ienno] turned up at 5pm, plonked themselves in the same smokers’ seats and the balance was restored,” Shaw says.

The building’s bones – and the bar top – remain. But Shaw, a former architect, has put her own spin on the space, adding a shiny stainless-steel back bar, a custom installation of square lanterns, and slanted ceiling mirrors “for people watching”.

There are fewer time-worn timbers and trinkets, but at its heart, it’s picking up where Gerald’s left off as a stalwart of spontaneity, open for walk-ins from 5pm to 11pm daily.

“We’re servicing the community by [them] knowing we’ll always be here,” says Shaw.

“People have already started treating it in the way we’d hoped – coming in for a martini and a snack on the way to a friend’s house, then picking up a bottle when they leave.”

Shaw is making the most of the site’s retail licence, transforming the area beyond the front bar into a bottle shop and tasting room anchored by a high green-marble table. The space serves a double purpose: it is both a retail hub and a tactile “visual wine list” for those dining on-site, allowing guests to browse the shelves for their next bottle.

Sommelier Sam Ross has curated a selection of around 200 bottles, ranging from accessible $12 house pours to European heavy-hitters. While Shaw’s canteen is known for moving vast quantities of premium French wine, the focus here has shifted. “We wanted to lean a little more Italian,” he says.

As at Gerald’s, cocktails are a feature, bolstered by house-made juices and syrups. Classics such as the freezer-door martini sit alongside bespoke creations by bar manager Belle Johnson Geor, including one with gin, French aperitif Suze and muddled green grapes.

Shaw wants the bar to feel more “splash-around” than its canteen counterpart, yet she remains emphatic that casualness shouldn’t equal compromise –especially where the menu is concerned.

Its European sensibility is anchored by seasonal produce from Ramarro and Days Walk farms, which informs a rotating selection of bistro and Italian classics.

The steak frites, for instance, features a Cape Grim bavette paired with skin-on, hand-cut fries sourced from the Spud Sisters – boiled once and fried twice for a perfect crunch. Other staples include a daily pasta and a fresh fritto misto, with the day’s specific iterations chalked up on the specials board.

While Bar Carnation seats roughly 100 guests inside and out, the venue’s potential extends further. Upstairs, mirroring the same footprint, Shaw plans to launch two private dining rooms. Despite numerous requests, it’s something the canteen hasn’t been able to accommodate.

Open dinner daily

386 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North, barcarnation.com