A new restaurant will soon add an extra touch of vibrancy to the Pirie Street dining scene: Meet ‘Olive,’ which will serve mediterranean dishes with a focus on bringing people together.
Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis are the talented culinary duo opening the restaurant, which is anticipated to open mid to late October on the corner of Pirie street and Chesser lane.
Themis and Callum took over chef Sashi Chelia’s old Pirie Street restaurant, and Themis says he believes Pirie Street is one of the best food strips and growing.
“The idea is really true to what Callum and I love to eat and love to cook. It’s big flavours, it’s seasonal produce, it’s vegetable heavy, it’s spices, it’s herbs—it’s just food that you want to share with your friends and family, and that’s really what food is for Cal and I,” Themis says.
“It is not is not unusual for my wife and I to have friends and family around randomly on a weeknight or weekend and the food I whip up on the table that they help themselves to they say ‘wow what’s that flavour?’ It’s delicious, it’s true to our tastebuds, our food ethos and our food values.”
Callum and Themis have worked together for 12 years and they love inspiring everyday Australians to cook and eat delicious seasonal food where flavour comes first, but also happens to be healthy, using beautiful local flavours.
Themis says one of their several restaurants, Eleven, is regarded as a more ‘refined’ style of eating due to the many premium offerings.
“We didn’t want to be a fine dining premium restaurant, but a step up from casual. It’s been going really well, but it’s pigeonholed itself as a fine dining restaurant, but we know from the price point it is not,” he says.
Now, along comes Olive, which is a casual, bright vibrant, energetic ‘hustle and bustle’ restaurant with a focus on bringing food, friends and family together.
Studio 9 architects have designed the venue, which is filled with textures such as wood, rendered walls and terracotta throughout to reflect the mediterranean food offerings.
“It is designed to really reflect that mediterranean, Middle-Eastern style of texture, wood and grain, terracotta and off white rendered walls. It’s not stereotypic Greek and Italian; we are mediterranean all the way to the Middle East. We are trying to take inspiration from the incredible food bowl that is the mediterranean, and its not just about pasta and lamb, it is about spices, it is about vegetables, pulses, beautiful flavours,” Themis says.
The restaurant name ‘Olive’ speaks for itself- olive is the key ingredient in their dishes and is the star of the restaurant.
“People call me the ‘unofficial ambassador of olive oil in the country’; I promote the benefits from a health perspective as well, the flavours in olive oil are probably the key ingredient that ties everything together.
“We use olive oil, we will be serving olives, it will never leave the menu, if you could think of one ingredient that is synonymous with the mediterranean, you would think of olives. For me, it is a gateway to every country through the mediterranean and we are excited to showcase local olive oil throughout the state.”
Olive will be open for all-day dining from 11am Monday-Saturday, or even if you’re looking for a place to just come and have a couple of snacks with a cocktail and glass of wine, this is it.
WHAT: Olive Restaurant.
WHERE: 86 Pirie Street,
WHEN: Opening mid to late October.
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