On an avenue which is being redeveloped at breakneck speed, veteran Canberra restaurateur Socrates Kochinos has pinned his heart on keeping some nostalgia on Lonsdale Street Braddon.
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His newest venture, Grease Monkey, due to open at the end of this week, pays homage to Braddon's industrial history.
Where concrete high rises are gobbling up the streetscape, Grease Monkey has moved in gently – taking over an old 1950s mechanics' shop front and defying sleek modern lines with old wood and vintage fixtures.
The original roller doors clatter up to reveal a warm, fun burger joint with a hint of New York's Meat Packing district. Just like old times.
There will be no quinoa or kale at Grease Monkey. It's strictly burgers, fried chicken, fries, and some old-school desserts, including house-made jam donuts and ice-cream sandwiches.
And it is all washed down with a heady array of rotating boutique beers on tap with additional tinnies and bottled beer kept cold in an old ice chest Kochinos located in South America and had painstakingly restored in London.
Every effort has been made to respect the past.
A 12-metre pewter bar is, Kochinos readily admits, a flight of fancy. Custom made in Brooklyn and flown out to Australia, the bar is a one-off design recalling a bygone cocktail era.
Not everyone would wait eight months for a bar, much less pay the heady price tag.
But Kochinos is legendary for his obsessive attention to detail.
"For me, the look and feel of a place is vital and no detail is too small for me. So when I get a vision in my mind I become obsessed and need to make it happen – exactly as it plays out in my head."
This includes sourcing vintage toilet cisterns and getting them retrofitted, and installing an old-school water bubbler in the breezy courtyard.
Kochinos, who grew up in Braddon, is convinced the city is "now having its long-awaited moment."
His prodigious hospitality history includes some of the city's iconic eateries and entertainment venues – among them Belluci's, Cream, Public, Urban Pantry, Me and Mrs Jones, and the Academy nightclub.
But Grease Monkey is "special", he says.
Kochinos managed to snare a prime block of corner real estate on the intersection of Lonsdale and Elouera Streets when the landlord came to him directly.
"I didn't hesitate for a second – I think it is the best block in Canberra."
Within a massive courtyard, hemmed in by a glossy red wrought iron gate and breeze blocks, Kochinos wants to offer a superior burger experience and a relaxed, yet vibrant, meeting place which may bring memories of an older Canberra flooding back to those who grew up here.
He believes the recipe for his burgers – months in development – will earn him a loyal following. If not, then he is convinced the fried chicken will. A house-brewed ginger beer will be on tap.
A hold-up with the liquor licensing has meant beer won't be able to be consumed outside in the beer garden for another few weeks and patrons will have to make do with a mocktail or perhaps a malted maple and bacon milkshake. The inside pewter bar will, however, be open for business.
Plans are also afoot for further development on the corner – most ambitiously a rooftop bar on the solid flat roof of the former mechanics' shop.
"I'm hoping that in terms of allowing us to proceed, the government holds true to its word about wanting to encourage cosmopolitan development on this street," says Kochinos.
"Can you imagine how great it is going to be?"
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