Discover a hidden culinary gem in Melbourne

Hugh Allen, the wunderkind Australian chef who earned three hats – the country’s highest restaurant rating – at Vue de Monde before his 27th birthday, is on a mission. And now, barely 30, he has transformed a rundown pavilion in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens into Yiaga, a soigné 44-seat restaurant focused on native ingredients and local farms.

Yiaga, Melbourne

The site has served refreshment since 1908, first as the Kiosk tearooms, replaced by the Pavilion café in the 1960s, before ceasing trading several years ago. Allen discovered the space during Melbourne’s first lockdown in 2019, recognising it as the perfect spot for his debut solo venture.

Working with renowned local architect John Wardle, Allen preserved only the existing roof and structure while reimagining everything beneath. ‘Hugh was keen on an ‘Australian zen’ warmth to the interiors,’ says Wardle, adding that the collaboration led to a deep friendship forged through a shared passion for makers and making. For starters, Allen insisted that the approach to Yiaga should matter as much as the meal itself.

In the local Wurundjeri language, yiaga means ‘seek and find’, a reference to the journey of discovery that diners must undertake through Victorian-era gardens past tree-lined avenues, lake and conservatory, possibly glimpsing possums, lorikeets and microbats along the way before arriving eventually at Wardle’s sleek, low-slung pile. This layered arrival sequence – garden to path to doorway to portal to reception to cellar – amplifies the occasion through deliberate pacing, each transition preparing diners for the next experience while respecting the threshold between public garden and private feast.

The entrance commands attention. Designed by Wardle and Simon Lloyd, and crafted by ceramicist Robert Gordon, more than 13,000 individually formed tiles curve around the interior walls, their terracotta texture mimicking the bark of the surrounding Scottish elm trees. Wardle says, ‘the tiles were sketched, then modelled up to develop a single one that could be formed around the varying contours’.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing dissolves the boundary between dining room and garden, and the majority of diners face towards the open kitchen rather than the view on the basis that Allen didn’t want servers interrupting conversations or sight lines to discuss menus or deliver plates.

The material palette draws entirely from local craftsmanship. Furniture maker Ross Thompson shaped blackwood timber into the cellar and drinks trolley, while designer Jon Goulder crafted custom chairs built for lingering. The private dining table, created by Vivienne Wong from cypress trees planted by one Baron Ferdinand von Mueller in the 1800s, connects diners to the site’s colonial heritage. Glass artist Alexandra Hirst formed the dining glassware by hand, and metalsmith Tobi Bockholt forged the kitchen knives.

This commitment to place extends to Allen’s menu. Retired Blackmore Wagyu breeding cows, prized for their depth of flavour after lives spent grazing pastures, ground the protein selections. Foraged wakame seaweed surfaces in desserts, while Gippsland dairy enriches dishes with Victorian terroir, and Queensland’s coral trout carries the warmth of northern waters south. Native herbs – river mint and Geraldton waxflower, among them – perfume plates with distinctly Australian aromatics. These ingredients form the backbone of Yiaga’s single-sitting service each evening.

And the absence of table turnover allows Allen’s team of 12 chefs to work at a more measured pace. ‘All tables are equal, none more special than others,’ says Wardle. This democratic approach extends to the views: every seat offers similar perspectives of the kitchen and the garden. Though both are worthy of your undivided attention, this could make for a tricky evening.

Yiaga is located at Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne 3002, Australia.

This article appears in the January 2026 Next Generation Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.