After four years of pop-ups and two years at her full-time digs, Enter Via Laundry owner Helly Raichura is expanding her fine diner to include a street-food focused bar.

One of the Carlton North supper club’s dining rooms has been transformed into an intimate front bar, with just 10 seats and a menu of all those great bar bites that Raichura and her friends have been missing from home in India.

Top of the list is chaat, the central focus of the bar menu. Savoury, tangy and spicy pockets of fried dough, stuffed with mixtures of onion, potato, coriander and chickpeas, chaat are the kind of grab-and-go snacks you’re as likely to find in upscale restaurants as you are at a roadside bar or a street food market.

Where Enter Via Laundry’s usual menu is a seasonal deep-dive into the many hyper-regional cuisines of India with cheffy twists, the bar is a far more relaxed affair, with just seven snacks available and inspiration drawn from both Indian and Australian ingredients.

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Cured spanner crab is piled high on house-made crackers with tamarind chutney, chilli, and lemon myrtle, and fried slices of potato known as bataka na bhajiya are coated in spiced chickpea flour. A Scotch egg-like dish of spiced chicken mince contrasts crisp kofta with perfectly runny egg yolks, while velvety silverbeet wrapped around grilled prawns or oyster mushrooms make an ideal – albeit indulgent – accompaniment to a drink or two.

The drinks menu has been created by Tom McHugh of Caretaker’s Cottage who has gone all out on the Indian-Australian theme. A black cardamom Old Fashioned is served in a puff of paperbark smoke and the gin-based mango lassi teams mango puree with lemon myrtle is served long over crystal clear ice.

The bar itself has been kitted out with just 10 bar stools so, just as in the tiny 18-seat restaurant out the back, be prepared to meet your neighbour and make a friend or two. The sand-coloured walls are dotted with framed pictures of dinner parties, tumbling bowls of limes and dishes from the restaurant – offering a glimpse into the mind of a chef who got her start hosting a weekly supper club in her own home. It’s intimate and personal, and the foundations of the Enter Via Laundry ethos.

Open Wednesday through Saturday, the Enter Via Laundry bar flexes more than a few new tricks from Raichura, aside from the laid back snacks and high end cocktails, the bar features the restaurant’s first front door.

To celebrate American Express delicious. Month Out, Enter via laundry is offering a snack and cocktail pairing comprising three street food snacks and three cocktails to start your night right.

Enter Via Laundry bar
507 Nicholson Street, Carlton North
Wed-Sat 6pm-11pm
entervialaundry.com.au

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