Open Studio

I love that every time I walk past this joint in the evening there is fantastic live music tumbling out onto the street. Looking through the window, past the band at the front, there are glasses of wine, tapping feet and smiling faces.

They have a really great gig calendar and it’s a funky little place, albeit small for all those dancing bodies. Complemented by a garden out the back for some fresh air. They did a nice mulled wine over winter. I’ll be back for sure!

Holy Crepes! Im so glad I felt like crepes and found this little gem. Well priced, delicious crepes with a good variety on the menu of both sweet and savoury options. when finding a new crêpe place, I always start with a classic crêpe which is generally ham and cheese (theirs also had egg and herbs), to gauge how well they make their crepes and open studio exceeded my crêpe expectations and I’ll definately be returning. My friend ordered the vegetarian crêpe… with ham and it was very tasty as well and I would completely order a vegetarian crêpe!
There is only one toilet that seemed to be a breeding ground for mosquitos so make sure you put some rid on if the mozzies love you!

I’ve been to this place like 5 or 6 times now. I love it. It actually became my very favorite place to hang out/​go on a date in Melbourne. I wanna package it up and take it with me wherever I go.
LOVE the vibe and the décor. Really tasty mulled wine. Garden out back has those old school awesome christmas lights. Always end up talking to weird in a good way people.
Gah! I’m gonna miss this place. (live in San Francisco now)

Whether you’ve been enjoying a scotch at Kelvin down the street, or taking in an afternoon matinée at the Westgarth, Open Studio is a great place to finish up an outing.
There’s a small beer garden you can sit in while the sun goes down, enjoying a tasty wholemeal crêpe or a coffee while chatting with friends. Of an evening there’s often cheap home-​made sangria or mulled wine available (depending on the season), and the friendly bar staff are generally up for a chat.
While it’s probably not your first choice for a hens’ night or a twenty-​first, Open Studio is definitely a place you can relax comfortably in, sure that you’re among friendly people and drinking drinks at fairly friendly prices.

One room crammed with tables, a tiny stage space and a small bar. Open Studios takes intimate to a whole new level. Patrons intimately sit nearly on top of each other, eating crepes (it’s a crepery, too) listening to musicians as equally close play their jazzy hearts out.
Laura Marling recently did an experiment where she invited a few festival patrons into a tent, performed a song for them and then silently left. I could only imagine the feeling of sharing in such a special moment; it’s about as daunting as playing a song to your mum in a lounge room and hoping she likes it.
But now I don’t have to imagine it, because Open Studios has provided the atmosphere necessary. I could easily believe the bar started life as a house, and that it only opens its doors to friends and family, serving them great drinks and delicious buckwheat crepes while allowing serenades to go on long into the night.

The Open Studio. As the name suggests it’s a bar that’s a bit like an artist’s living room or a band’s basement sans mattresses covering the walls.
As such, it has a wide variety of live bands playing most nights of the week with the occasional beat poet doing a reading, or interpretive art played out to a sound scape of improvisational jazz. They even serve crepes!
So this immediately begs the question: is this one of Melbourne’s many hidden gems or is it just another hipster hang out where you can’t pay for a smile and you’re sneered at for walking in off the street?
Well the answer to this is a simple one despite what first impressions may indicate. The Open Studio is most definitely a hidden gem. It is the kind of place that invites you in as you walk by. It is not uncommon to hear happy music spilling out onto the streets, which invites you to look through the window. At which point you are either likely to see the place rammed full of people dancing hedonistically, or, on a quiet night, some thoughtful looking folks sitting at small round table eating crepes and listening to a singer/​song writer mourning their past loves.
Either way The Open Studio deserves a look-​in more often than not, and it’s quite often worth staying around for a few drinks off their limited but cheap menu. The bar has a cosy backyard for summer. Just don’t expect any frills here –only the welcome vibe of a party in your best friend’s living room!

Visiting the Open Studio is like walking onto the set of that saccharine cinematic version of Chocolat. But with booze instead of chocolate and Australian Johnny Depp doppelgangers instead of the much deified man himself.
A tiny Northcote watering hole serving beer, wine, cider and the occasional spirit, Open Studio hosts a plethora of gigs numbering reggae, jazz, gypsy music and the like attracts a largely bohemian crowd.
In possession of just about the most magical — fairy light lit — little backyard I’ve ever seen attached to a bar, the Open Studio is quaint, idiosyncratic and a great place for a drink — or crepes! — if you don’t fancy too hedonistic or hipster a night out.