Head chef Dallas Reilly and his two colleagues toiling away in Patsy’s stainless steel kitchen are burly men in short-sleeved blue shirts who – no offence intended – look a bit like butchers or fishmongers. Which is a little ironic given this stylish new eatery opposite Queen Victoria Market does not serve any animals.

Patsy’s is, first and foremost, a wine bar in the European mould, a handsome arrangement of wood-panelled walls and exposed brick, designer chandeliers and arched windows onto a roundabout park of tall eucalypts. Out back there’s a lovely courtyard that’d be perfect on a summer evening, and just beyond are the 19th-century stables that will become a private dining room. There’s more seating upstairs but it’s closed for now while Patsy finds her feet.

Owners Mathew Guthrie, Clinton Trevisi and James Langley run the wildly popular Peninsula eateries Donna Maria at Flinders and Sorrento’s Bistro Elba, where you’ll find all the raw kingfish and grass-fed beef your stomach desires. But here, in a two-storey former pinball parlour on the CBD edge, they’re showcasing the harvest from their Daylesford garden and handpicked produce from their market trader neighbours.

Like its namesake character from the show Absolutely Fabulous, Patsy’s loves a drink. The cracking list canvases everything from a classic Negroni to a Velvet Old Fashioned spiked with Pedro Ximénez sherry. There’s a decent selection of botanical vermouths as well as beers and ciders, but wines are the main event. By the glass there 19, all quite eclectic – everything from Spanish palomino and Greek assyrtiko to a classic French burgundy and Adelaide Hills rosé .

By the bottle things get even more interesting. The list is split into user-friendly headings such as ‘racy and pure’ whites (Spanish albariño, French chenin blanc), to ‘elegant and perfumed’ reds including a Tasmanian gamay and Mornington Peninsula pinot. Six pages in total, packed with intriguing, often unfamiliar drops. Savvy staff are willing and able to guide you to the right choice, and the menu, too, gives helpful pointers on how to match drinks and dishes.

Patsy’s has only been open for 10 days when we visit but already the clear favourite of the food offerings is the Zlikrofi, almost-meaty potato and chickpea dumplings from Slovenia in a sweet-umami sauce of shallots and wine. The wine is Rainbow Juice, an aromatic, skinsy blend of four white grapes and a dash of syrah (shiraz) from Gentle Folk vineyard in the Adelaide Hills, so the drinks match for the dumplings is a no-brainer.

Fried Sicilian pane cunzato flatbread topped with pureed broad beans, goat’s ricotta, almond and hint of mint pairs nicely with an earthy, golden Grillo, also from Sicily. And a selection of vegetables – radish, cauliflower, carrot etc, raw or lightly fermented – with a classic bagna cauda warm dipping sauce of olive oil and garlic naturally goes well with a Gavi di Gavi given both hail from Piedmont.

The most striking of the four main-course offerings, which include a kipfler- and tomato-filled empanada, and creamy polenta with sweet-and-sour eggplant, is a ‘sausage’ made with beetroot, sliced into two plump discs and smothered with Café de Paris butter. It’s a clever reimagining of the classic French boudin noir or blood sausage.

For dessert there’s a mess-like Fragole con Zabaione – sliced strawberries coated in a Moscato zabaglione with an intense strawberry sorbet and hazelnuts. It’s pretty much guaranteed to please. Or you could channel your inner Patsy and have another drink for dessert. The chic Italian cocktail sgroppino combines frozen lemon and prosecco, sort of like a slushy for grown-ups. It captures the vibe here nicely.

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