10 X 10

A decade is a long time to make it in hospitality. Hell, in this economy, two years a decent run. 

So, what’s the secret to keeping it together long enough to release milestone birthday merch? Here’s a look at 10 Aussie venues who turned 10 in 2025, uncovering the pleasure (and pain) behind their longevity.

The venue: Aloft, Hobart

The vibe: Pan-Asian eats and Nordic design with floor-to-ceiling water views

The voice: Christian Ryan, executive chef and co-owner of Aloft and Maria

When Christian Ryan opened Aloft, a Tasmania-meets-SE Asia-inspired fine diner on Hobart’s waterfront, the then 28-year-old was not ready to run a restaurant. “Those first few years were horrible. If anyone had offered me a reasonable amount of money I would have sold it,” he says. The business found its feet, eventually, but it took a pandemic for it to really find its way. “When COVID hit, I was ready to change careers. But during lockdown, I had a chance to pause and think, to be inspired.” When the restaurant re-opened, Ryan ditched the a la carte menu for a degustation-only offering. “We had half the [number of] people paying double the money for twice the experience,” he says. “I was finally cooking my own food, and people liked it.” Locals he hadn’t seen in years started coming in, bringing friends from interstate. The media started to show an interest. “My mum jokes about how often she has to buy Gourmet Traveller now because I’m in it,” Ryan says. He and business partner Will Priestly (of Pilgrim coffee) opened their second restaurant last year, the Mediterranean-inspired Maria. It came with all the same teething problems as Aloft, Ryan says. But this time he was ready. “I just had a lot more confidence and faith in myself.” 

The venue: Continental Deli, Newtown NSW

The vibe: A day-to-night ode to canned fish and canned cocktails

The voice: Sam Bygrave, Editor at Boothby

“Continental Deli was a place out of step with the times when it opened,” Bygrave says, “but who’d have thought tinned fish and other canned goods would become a TikTok trend in the last few years?” The Deli is somewhat timeless, Bygrave muses, and that’s part of why it endures. “The design cues, the food and drink on offer, the service, is all anchored in yesteryear — one that probably never existed — but they’ve been unafraid to update it for the times we’re in.” Bygrave points to the way bar manager Michael Nicolian collides classic cocktails to create new classics all his own, like the Negroni Ramos. “They’ve been making gildas and canning drinks long before that became popular, too; their Martinny is still one of the best Martinis money can buy, and it’s surely the world’s greatest cocktail pun.” It also speaks to the venue more broadly: classic, timeless, and built to last.

The venue: Firedoor, Surrey Hills NSW 

The vibe: Flame-licked, wood-fired cuisine of the highest order 

The voice: Lennox Hastie, Chef and Owner at Firedoor and Gildas

Firedoor was already five years old when it was featured on the acclaimed Netflix series Chef’s Table. The episode brought the restaurant global attention, but Lennox Hastie had long since proven that a fire-driven restaurant built on restraint could work. “Media has played a meaningful role in helping me share what we do with stories and reviews,” Hastie says. “But they are not the reason that I cook.” Open a restaurant for fame or money, he says, and you’ll burn out quickly. Instead, he advises, “You feed curiosity. You share discoveries. You promote when you can from within. For me, it’s about finding quiet evolution rather than constant reinvention.” While being well-established can provide a safety net (Hastie’s second restaurant, Gildas, opened three years ago), longevity is not without its challenges. “People arrive with high expectations seeking something new and surprising, whilst also demanding that you play your greatest hits,” he says. Complacency is a quiet enemy, too. “The moment you start believing you’ve made it, you risk losing that hunger, that ambition that drove you in the first place.” Be patient, he says. Be vulnerable, learn to listen, and don’t compromise on the things that matter. Even when it gets hard.

The venue: Osteria Oggi, Adelaide 

The vibe: Perfect pizza and pasta; mid-century Riviera charm 

The voice: Katie Spain, drinks writer for Good Food and SA Editor for Gourmet Traveller

When Osteria Oggi opened its doors on Pirie Street, Spain says, the timing was perfect. “Adelaide’s small bar scene exploded a few years earlier and the energy was electric. It was a seductive offering from day dot.” The space, designed by Adelaide’s studio-gram, exudes Italian conviviality, and creates a perfect environment for first dates over amari and anchovy soldiers at the bar, casual catch ups over local wine, and share plates that are love letters to local farmers. “Then there’s the pasta, made fresh onsite each day,” Spain says. “Oggi is all class but also accessible, loud and a hell of a lot of fun. I raise a glass of tiramisu affogato to the happy decades to come.”

The venue: Heartbreaker, Melbourne

The vibe: Pizza by the slice, pints of lager, last drinks at 3am 

The voice: Zara Madrusan, business ownerand co-author of The Madrusan Cocktail Companion

Zara and Michael Madrusan opened renowned Melbourne cocktail bar The Everleigh in 2011, dive bar Heartbreaker in 2015 and Bar Margaux, a New York-inspired bistro, in 2019. This March, the duo closed Margaux and Everleigh, sending both venues into liquidation. “This year was a hugely challenging one for us, and very sad to say goodbye to two venues we loved so dearly. On the other hand, Heartbreaker has been granted the opportunity to grow sustainably into its second decade,” Zara says. An essential stop on any respectable Melbourne bar crawl, Heartbreaker was always intended to be a bar for the people, she says. And therein lies the key: “The way people use your venue tells you so much about what’s working. Pay attention, and don’t get too stuck on the things you thought would work if they’re not. At the ten-year mark we really feel Heartbreaker has achieved its icon status. It’s our job now to continue to ensure it lives up to expectations.” 

The venue: Mary Street Bakery, West Leederville, Perth

The vibe: Hip neighbourhood bakery with pink neon signage

The voice: Max Brearley, journalist and editor at WA Good Food Guide

The original Mary Street Bakery opened in 2013, and Brearley calls it “A prototype for the upscale bakery-meets-casual-dining trend,” and says it was arguably ahead of its time. But the second location in West Leederville, which opened in 2015, saw the business grow into a full scale production bakery, changing the nature of the business profoundly. “While a certain type of food wanker may turn their nose up that, some operations get away with it, Brearley says. “At its heart, the quality on which MSB was built is still there, and it draws me back again and again.” What’s his go-to? “ It was once the Brit-style bacon butty — soft white bread, good bacon, HP sauce and not an avocado in sight. Now it would more often be coffee and a pastry, maybe a doughnut to go. I guess we all evolve in our own way.”

The venue: Minamishima, Richmond, VIC 

The vibe: A temple to Japanese fine dining

The voice: Besha Rodell, Chief Restaurant Critic for The Age (and A+ Editor-in-Chief)

It’s impossible to overstate Minamishima’s influence on how we think about sushi and sashimi in Melbourne,” Rodell says. While these days it seems like another expensive omakase restaurant opens every week, in 2015 there were only a few high-end Japanese restaurants in town, and none of them focused exclusively on sushi and sashimi. According to Rodell, “it was, and is, a total standard-bearer. Koichi Minamishima [the chef and owner] was serving fish no one else was using – it was honestly hard to get anything else other than salmon, tuna or yellowtail back then, and here he came serving sea clam and alfonsino. It was a revelation.” These days, with so many others replicating Minashima’s success, Rodell says it’s still the GOAT. “It’s absolutely still my first pick for a special occasion sushi meal, if you’ve got the cash.”

The venue: Bennelong, Sydney 

The vibe: Iconic venue, iconic menu, iconic view

The voice: Bennelong head chef Rob Cockerill

There’s a pavlova at two-hatted Bennelong — Sydney’s most “Sydney” restaurant, according to Good Food national editor Callum Boys — inspired by sails of the Opera House under which it is served. “We couldn’t take it off the menu even if we wanted to,” says head chef Rob Cockerill. Change is essential, but some decisions are out of your hands: “The truth is you don’t choose the dishes that stay; the diners and the industry decide that for you.” There’s no escaping media scrutiny, either, when you run such a high-profile venue, but Cockerill is at peace with it. “You have to take every review, good or bad, as a gift. Feedback helps you refine what you do.” Striving for excellence extends beyond those iconic sails. “It’s been incredibly rewarding to watch our team grow, move on and succeed in their own right, carrying with them the DNA of Bennelong,” he says. His former sous chef Troy Crisante is now head chef at Quay; former pastry chef Rhiann Mead is now the executive pastry chef for the Etymon hospitality group, whose venues include The Charles Brasserie & Bar and Loulou Bistro. “We have always led rather than followed. We’re inspired by what’s happening around us, but ultimately, we trust in our own approach to Australian cuisine,” Cockerill says. “That’s what keeps us relevant.”

The venue: Paper Daisy at Halcyon House, Cabarita Beach NSW

The vibe: Great Australian dining in resort-style surrounds

The voice: Callan Boys, National Restaurant Editor at Good Food

“Firstly, the Anna Spiro-designed dining room, lounge and bar is an all-timer, with its wide, open plan and view past white-washed bricks to beachside foliage and waiting surfboards,” Boys says. “I’ve always said it feels like the kind of place James Bond would drink a mojito while on assignment in Jamaica.” Second, he says, Ben Devlin (who departed in 2018) redefined what coastal hotel dining could be when he launched the restaurant, and worked closer with local growers, producers and fishers than most in NSW ever had before — and showcased those ingredients in innovative ways. Devlin is now at two-hatted Pipit in the Northern Rivers, but Boys contends that his influence remains. “A simple prawn sandwich by the pool certainly has its merits, too.”

The venue: The Croxton, Northcote VIC

The vibe: The perfect dive-bar bandroom to discover your new favourite local act

The voice: Simone Ubaldi, Croxton promoter (along with partner Andrew Parisi)

The Croxton is the perfect setting for an epic Melbourne night, a live music venue small enough to feel intimate but big enough to make the band feel the power of a crowd at full intensity. “It's a matter of pride for locals that so many amazing shows happen right in their backyard,” Ubaldi says. “It's one of those things that makes a neighbourhood feel alive and interesting, somewhere people want to be and want to live.” At its core, the Croxton is just a venue for hire — it’s not curated (although the massive block party they had in November to celebrate the anniversary was; “The Block Party was honestly the most joyful and fun couple of days we have ever had, and people absolutely loved it”). But Ubaldi says that they have managed to instil a sense of community “because from the outset, Andrew and I drummed into the staff that our punters are the lifeblood of the venue and we have to make them feel welcome and take care of them.” The emphasis is aslo on how important it is to treat artists well, “because they bring the audiences. And it's not hard to take care of people.” Ubaldi gives much of the credit of their longevity to their staff. “We've had the same key staff since we opened — our bandroom manager Jack, our security team, our door person Bec. They feel ownership and pride in the venue because they've been there so long. And also they're just awesome, friendly people.”