Milquetoast

You may wonder why a wine bar included on our best new openings list is called Milquetoast (another word for feeble, insipid, or bland). Despite its name, owners George Curtis and James Horsfall’s new opening is anything but weak. Milquetoast is stuffed inside a former CBD car garage down a laneway off Elizabeth Street, past the bright neon lights of late-night bourbon bar Alice. It’s got an industrial fit-out offset by homey mismatched vintage furniture, warm wooden surfaces and wine bottles lining the walls. An open kitchen and bar on one side of the space lets punters in on the action. The British-leaning menu is inspired by the owners’ shared English heritage, with opening highlights including devilled eggs, mushrooms on toast and Cumberland sausages with puy lentils and gremolata.