In a house full of bartenders from the city’s coolest venues, we’ll stay an extra day.
Kayla Saito’s home in Melbourne’s Northcote is, as she describes it, “a hospo house”. Her housemates are Oisín Conneely, general manager of the iconic Fitzroy bar, Black Pearl, Oisín’s girlfriend Jaime, who’s also in hospitality, and Navarre Fenwick, a bartender at Black Pearl. So, it’s a great place to go for dinner. They’re all outstanding at picking wine, and just imagine how innovative they get when it comes to making cocktails. “Sometimes we get creative and use what we have on hand to make drinks like a Snap Pea Spritz, or a friend of mine even made a salt and vinegar chip Martini once.”
Kayla moved to Australia from the US – she’s from Hawaii and Tennessee – six years ago and has been making her mark as a wickedly talented bartender and artist of hospitality ever since. She’s been at Mulberry Group since 2023, playing multiple roles across the group’s venues, including opening its slick Abbotsford venue Molli in 2024. But back to the hospo house.
These friends have slowly been moving north through sharehouses in Melbourne – from Abbotsford to Fitzroy, and now Northcote. “When I first came here, I loved it. There are families walking around, parks for my dog [a rescue called Sadie Mae]. It’s the place for me.” High Street has a tonne of great restaurants, bars and shops, and the newly built rec center is great for swimming. They found a light-filled, newly refurbished house with a garden and courtyard, and, best of all, a landlord who encourages gardening and hanging pictures.
You might imagine these hospo housemates are ships in the night, but all currently have the same days off. So, while on weekdays Kayla zooms to work in Abbotsford on her motorbike – an adrenaline-filled way to start the day, particularly with Melbourne traffic – on the weekends, household takeaways, neighbourhood hangs and Mario Kart marathons are the norm. Throw in some upcoming Easter festivities – one that inspires white chocolate-adorned Negronis, devilled egg treats (it’s a Tennessee thing) and hot cross buns, onigiri and seltzers – and we want in on Kayla’s plans.
What’s the plan?
”My first day off is when I get my stuff together. I’ll be doing laundry, tidying up the garden and getting on top of my chores. If I don’t do it first up, it will be another week ’til I look at it. It’s also the day I spend a lot of time with Sadie Mae. I take her to the dog park and for walks. It’s very much a dog day.”
What’s on the menu?
“When you’ve just finished cleaning the house, you don’t want to make it dirty again, so it’s definitely a night for takeaway. Baingan bharta and naan is a favourite dish, so Indian takes care of whoever is home. We’ll eat, open a bottle of wine and watch a scary movie. I’m a sucker for any classic slasher or film with a lot of gore. I’ve always loved them. I probably went to horror movies when I was really too young. I saw The Grudge in theaters and I remember renting The Ring. My mum had to go in and rent it for me while I stayed in the car because I wasn’t old enough.“
What are you drinking?
“The Penfolds Bin 138 Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre is a great match with Indian food. It has a little bit of spice, it’s medium bodied and fruit forward, but not super fruity – just enough to cut through all that spice and those intense flavours.”
What’s the plan?
“Saturday is my out-and-about day. It’s also when I’ll do the big haul of groceries. I like to do this the day before I’m hosting. I’ll walk the dog down to Red Door Corner Store, get a cake for the next day, and grab a coffee. Later on, we’ll probably have people over, or go to a friend’s place. My housemates and I all have the same friends, and, if my housemates are being cute and taking their girlfriends on a date, I go see some of my hospo friends. About once a month I like to do a bit of a venue tour. I make my way around the different restaurants and bars my friends work at to see what they’re up to and taste the delicious things they’re making. I probably go out more than some other bar managers, but I like getting that perspective. I like Bar Liberty, or going into the CBD to see what’s happening there. I also love visiting the other Mulberry Group venues. I have friends at all the venues so it’s a lot of socialising, moving around and tasting everyone’s non-alcoholic cocktails. They are hard to nail, so I like to taste them all.”
What’s on the menu?
“I would not miss a devilled egg from Bar Bellamy. They have a little anchovy on top there. I’m from Hawaii and Tennessee, but we’d spend Easter in Tennessee and always have devilled eggs. In the South, you just have multitudes of food, and it’s often all very sweet, but everyone goes for the devilled eggs. If I’m seeing my friend, we’ll get Thai from Bourke St and have it with moscato. I thought it was an odd combination at first, but last year I was on a bit of a Thai tour down Bourke St and a friend brought a bottle. It needs to be super cold, but with the spice, seafood and full flavour of the food, moscato is a perfect match.”
What are you drinking?
”On my venue tour, I head to Black Pearl for a cocktail. You know you’ll always get a well-made drink there. . There, I start with something low abv and refreshing like an Americano. Then I order something a little more involved – they consistently nail drinks like the Morning Glory Fizz and Manhattan.”
What’s the plan?
“I’m cooking for everyone, so I wake up early and prep as much as possible. This includes making sure we have enough ice – we have a ridiculous amount of ice moulds at home because without ice you have no drinks, so we like to prepare. Then I’ll blast some music and do a house clean so by the time everyone arrives, it’s ready to go. In saying that, there’s always something more to do and I’ll end up in the kitchen at the last minute, but everyone works in hospo and likes a job, so they help me finish it all off. I’m like ‘Can you cut this?’ or ‘You fold the napkins’ or even ‘Here’s a book from the ‘80s on napkin folding, pick your favourite and do that for the table.’ Sometimes we do a craft activity before dinner, like painting or printmaking . Even if it’s just a card game. We start at the table and end up outside or on the couch, usually ending with a Mario Kart tournament.”
What’s on the menu?
“I make a lot of food called ‘Local’ food from Hawaii, which is known for really delicious flavours and rich snacky foods. And it's mostly fusion, to be honest – lots of Polynesian, Filipino, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Thai influence. Think - melting pot of asian comfort food. I love cooking. For lunch I’ll make salmon crudo dressed with yuzu ponzu, and shiitake mushroom linguine with a dashi beurre blanc, seared scallops, and a salad to lighten things up. Dessert is the cake from Red Door, our local cafe/bakery.”
What are you drinking?
“When I’m prepping, I’ll batch-freeze the Spiced White Negroni. It's so easy as a Negroni is just three equal parts. Combine Spiced Negroni Gin from Four Pillars with aperitif wine, or dry vermouth, and Montenegro Amaro. You just chuck them together and put them in the freezer, and then you’re ready to go. Just pour and add a little white chocolate shard, and that's it.”
What’s the plan?
“After a sleep-in, I’ll grab some supplies and head to the park. I do it all the time. Walk to the park, bring a little snack and something liquid, meet up with friends, or just bring the dog and message around and maybe people come and join. It's so good.”
What’s on the menu?
“Hot cross buns from Red Door Corner Store, and onigiri, either from QQQ St. kitchen, Kissaten, Tamago, 279 or Ima Asa Yoru. I also make them – they’re so wholesome and everyone loves rice with stuff. They’re basically a little rice sandwich and you fill it with pickles, or Spam. When I was eating pork, I loved a Spam onigiri.”
What are you drinking?
“Lots of water, and something fizzy like the Moon Dog Fizzer Tropical Crush Seltzer. They're really easy going, light and refreshing. Not too sweet, not too alcoholic, and especially great if it's a bit sunny outside. A crowd-pleaser”
- A set of vintage cocktail glasses from Waverley Antique Bazaar.
- The next book from my list at Books for Cooks, which is Sam Cooper’s new one The Fermentation Kitchen.
- A potted plant, of course. I frequent Northcote Nursery, which is just down the road.
- For your tasty ferment side of things, I’ll get a HP sauce – hot honey, pickles and miso – from Caitlin Koether at Molli in Abbotsford.
- I’ll treat myself to a vinyl at one of Melbourne’s many iconic record shops.
