In finding a name for his latest venture, Sun Moth Canteen’s founder Luke Mutton took inspiration from nature, seeing the threatened Australian Golden Sun Moth as a suitable namesake for the café-cum-diner-cum-bar tucked away down a Melbourne city laneway.
With one eye always on sustainability, no matter the project, Luke felt it was important to imbue that into the very essence of his new venue, including naming it after a threatened species. But in the name of subtlety, you wouldn’t know that from walking in to the place.
Instead, the central bar, light wooden tables and rows of natural wines on display simply give off a sense of calm – one you might not expect when stumbling upon it from the noise and bustle of nearby Lonsdale Street.
But enough about that, where’s the beer? Again, subtlety proves to be the name of the game. A simple chalk board on the wall offers up the beer selection, which is a finely curated list of local craft breweries, such as Moon Dog, Two Metre Tall, La Sirène and Mornington. Sun Moth might not scream "craft beer", but the devil is in the detail.
Detail such as the wooden tap handles, ranging from the lightest of woods to a deep brown at the end. Those colours reflect the liquid to be found inside, with offerings divided up from pale ale through to a stout or American brown, depending on that week’s rotation.
That fine touch continues through to the food menu, which is designed to evolve smoothly from breakfast through to dinner. Sandwiches become main meals with side salads, sweet afternoon snacks become the perfect dessert. After opening in late 2014, the menu chopped and changed as the team settled in to its groove, but once dishes such as the chicken sandwich and beef cheeks started to develop a loyal following from the inner city clientele, it became clear consistency was key.
That clientele ranges from students to lawyers, from freelancers to tourists, all pulled in by Sun Moth’s unique position – it sits somewhere in the space between a café, a restaurant, and a bar. You are just as likely to meet someone for a quick lunch or a beer as you are to linger over a bottle of natural wine and a hearty dinner.
This is very much intentional, with prices kept at a reasonable level to allow for the more casual customer who might spend their morning typing away on their laptop, topping themselves up with coffee before grabbing a sandwich at lunchtime.
It is, as may be clear, not your average craft beer joint. But you cannot doubt their commitment to the cause, with bottles of La Sirène currently ageing away in the back room for an undetermined future date, and plans slowly coming together to create their own pilot brews on site. For Luke and the team, everything is done with a sense of exploration, whether it be changing up the food menu, putting on beers from a new local brewery or, as they did earlier in 2016, fermenting their own amber wine, just to see if they could.
Naturally, the name of that wine is Golden Sun Moth. It wouldn’t seem right any other way.
*Kerry McBride*
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