Gilbert’s Wine Bar & Grill will open soon on Henley Beach Road, with a mix of all the brand’s offerings in one venue.
Coming soon: Good Gilbert crew head west
From L–R: Stephen and George Tzanakis, Ashley Peek and Wilson Shawyer
It’s been a busy year for the Good Gilbert crew – they opened Good Burger at the start of the year, then Asha in August – but the team are not quite done yet.
Gilbert’s Wine Bar & Grill is the latest offering from co-owners Wilson and Isabelle Shawyer, Stephen Tzanakis, and Ashley Peek. It will be the “perfect amalgamation” of Good Gilbert, Good Burger, and Asha into one venue, set to open in mid-November.
“So we’ll have the best of GG’s [Good Gilbert] in regards to that really fun, vibrant, casual service, a wine list like GG’s, and an ethos like GG’s,” Wilson says.
“But then further developing the food offering that we’ve done at Good Burger to be more restaurant-focused and more American grill-focused, I suppose, rather than burger-orientated.
“And then with a fit-out like Asha without all the hardwood. So just textures, render, all wall lights.
“The upholstery is fucking so cool. It’s going to feel very modern in here in a really nice way.”
The walls are painted in the colour ‘Boston Ivy’
There is one notable difference with Gilbert’s Wine Bar & Grill compared to the rest of the hospitality offerings: this one is in the western suburbs.
“I already had a space out here. My first business [Burgertec on Grange Road] was in the west, so it was all I knew for a while and it was always really, really good to me,” Stephen says.
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“Then I moved around the corner to Good Gilbert [and] was a regular in the bar. That’s how I started to get more and more involved with these guys.
“I think we only ever see the world from whatever perspective we see it from. From where I saw it then was there was nothing really out here with the offering that was GG’s.
“And for myself, I fell in love with the space. I fell in love with the venue. I fell in love with the concept.”
As the space was originally a Burgertec, Stephen says he saw something greater for the venue.
“I had this space. It was just a, in my opinion, underutilised space. Burgertec always had a large takeaway focus, whereas this is a 60-seater licensed restaurant in a precinct of restaurants,” he says.
“There’s obviously a market for it, and the business could stand on its own two feet, but it was definitely a takeaway brand and so it’s very hard to have one of seven [change to] a dine-in restaurant with a license – it’s very hard to recreate your identity in one location.
“So I would just be looking at this space being like, this is an underutilised resource. We need to do more. We can do more. People are there. The license is there. The restaurant’s there. What can we do?”
The Gilbert’s Wine Bar & Grill team
Though Gilbert’s Wine Bar & Grill went through four different concepts – including a sports bar and a Good Burger 2.0 – the team settled on something “accessible” where patrons can come for a meal, burger or stop by for a drink.
“Every single one of our venues, there’s a lot of thought behind the venue, the product, the offering [that’s] based on the clientele in the area,” Stephen says.
“So even this space, as much as it’s the best of everything, we’ve definitely looked at the area, the age demographics, what other offerings there are in the area.”
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They’ve made deliberate decisions to cater to this area, like opening seven days for lunch and dinner and having food that is, as Ash describes it, “all-day diner, with an American steakhouse twist on it”.
“We’re going to be heavy in the steak, while also offering other proteins like fish, chicken [and] veggo as well,” Ash says.
“And then a big focus around snacks. Just fun food delivered well,” Ash says.
“Chopped salads and things – again leaning into that American food culture but playing into the area. It can’t be such a heavy food menu as well. We still want it to be approachable and accessible as a lunchtime venue,” Wilson says.
A selection of Good Burger’s menu will operate separately as ‘Good Burger at Gilbert’s’.
“So we’re going to have our Good Burger menu available online and we’re going to have Uber Eats and run Good Burger independently through the space,” Stephen says.
“We had a burger offering in this space for the last eight or nine years, so we don’t necessarily want to take that away and have people bang on the doors saying ‘give us burgers’.”
“And then we’ll have the grill and snack offering within the four walls.”
The team “want this to be a drinking destination” as well as a food hangout, and will have a 200 to 300 bottle list with a large sparkling offering.
“We’re booze people at heart,” Wilson says.
We ask the crew if they feel like they’ve nailed the opening process after three in one year. Stephen replies: “no” and everyone laughs.
“We’re getting better at it,” Wilson says.
“I don’t think you ever quite ‘nail’ it. I think we’re getting really, really good at it,” Stephen adds.
“We’re getting more efficient at it in regards to just being more aware of what also needs to be done during fit-out and just being more on the front foot with it,” Wilson says.
Gilbert’s Wine & Grill is located at 172 Henley Beach Road, Torrensville and is slated to open in mid-November.
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