Gemini

Two Geminis, Tresna Lee and Shane Farrell, are behind Gemini, a wine bar and community hub. Lee and Farrell, both Coburg locals, have carved out an elegant and versatile space that invites community interactions.

The couple spent the better part of a year transforming the building into a wine bar that still hints at the history of the space. The sandblasted walls showcase the original bluestone of the structure. Gemini is divided into three sections: in the front room, there’s seating centred around a sleek granite benchtop bar. Next is a pantry stocked with wine, cheese, bread and craft beer. Finally, at the back of the venue is the chef’s table, which faces the open kitchen that sits under an arch.

The food menu focuses on European-leaning snacks, and has included oysters with plum-spiked hot sauce, potato and whey focaccia, buttermilk ricotta and Skull Island prawns on toast. There are plenty of small bites that all scream for a glass to go alongside them.

Mainstays of the menu include a lunch-only continental platter with locally baked bread, and the ever-changing Gemini bar sandwich, which might be a prawn omelette and sorrel sandwich with Six-Eyed Scorpion chilli oil. The wine list is not one thing or the other, but it is Victorian-leaning.