“I want this to be 100 per cent me, no compromise. It’s a fresh start in my mind. Even if the restaurant is eight and the deli seven years old, it feels like a rebirth,” says chef .
The owner of and has launched a new vegan hub at 107 Cambridge Street in Collingwood, which sees her two venues attached with a grocery store and a production kitchen.
The rogue mentality that got Martinez where she is today
Born in Fitzroy, Martinez straddled successful music and hospitality careers for a long time, before food eventually won.
She says the (now famous) she created at the in was a light-bulb moment. “I realised there was an entire demographic of people who were not catered for,” she says. “There wasn’t anywhere to eat vegan food given the same experience of a non-vegan restaurant, nowhere where the wine list was top-notch, the service, everything. There wasn’t really anywhere with a proper dining experience.”
That was the catalyst to . Since then, she has received many accolades for the innovative way she approaches vegan cooking, has published and has been appointed as the executive chef of .
In 2020, she was . It was while undergoing treatment that she decided it was time to take the next steps with her business. After months of immunotherapy, radiation and chemotherapy, her last mammogram came in clear, and with the sixth Melbourne lockdown behind us, she was ready to open her doors again.
The beginning of a new era
The deli and restaurant has a strong Mediterranean influence, a nod to Martinez’s Spanish heritage.
The deli is decked out in wood panels, terracotta tones and Spanish tiles. It will carry old favourites like the vegan cinnamon and cardamom doughnuts, chorizo and, but also new items like a seitan-based mortadella that Martinez has been working on for years.
“We focus on making food that we know is nostalgic for people. It’s one of my favourite parts of this job, watching people eat something they thought they would never have again,” she says, with genuine excitement.
The deli is surrounded by a grocery store and a cafeteria where you can dine in for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu will range from plant-based versions of yoghurt parfait to seafood stew and . There will even be a carvery so you can have a vegan roast.
Next door is a production kitchen where you can peek through the windows to observe how vegan croissants are made. Hint: it’s a process that requires as much time and skills as a regular croissant.
Next door again is the restaurant, the new Smith & Daughters: dark, moody and flanked with a huge wood-fired grill.
“When you walk in, the first thing you see is that fire going. There’s a smoky smell coming through with beautiful vegetables,” describes Martinez.
She’s especially excited about almond ricotta that is wrapped in vine leaves and thrown in the fire. It’s served with grapes that have been hung over the fire until they’re extra sweet and smoky. “It tastes like the real deal. Our ricotta can’t just be ‘good enough for the vegans’, it has to taste like ricotta and feels like it,” she says.
We focus on making food that we know is nostalgic for people. It’s one of my favourite parts of this job, watching people eat something they thought they would never have again.
Her Italian spin on fish-fragrant eggplant is one of the few old dishes that will remain, and so is the , which will be jazzed up with a chocolate coffee mousse layer.
Many of the new dishes, like the halva sundae, lean towards the eastern part of the , with Turkish, Lebanese and Greek influences.
Diners who choose to sit around the open kitchen will be treated to a menu tailored especially for them by the chef.
With the opening on Cambridge Street, it does feel like Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli are entering a new era.
“If this doesn’t work – well, I've put everything, with this venture, on the line,” says Martinez, and laughs. But she doesn’t seem worried at all, she knows she has a good thing going and she knows Melburnians know it too.
107 Cambridge Street in Collingwood
