Source : the age
After a successful summer seafood pop-up at Stokehouse’s beachfront kiosk in St Kilda, and recent months cooking and eating her way around Morocco, Italy and the Netherlands, ex-Hope St Radio chef Ellie Bouhadana is launching her own restaurant.
Dafina Seaside Grill will open in the storied Claypots site in St Kilda in early 2027, adding extra verve to an exciting time for the suburb, with Andrew McConnell’s Trader House taking over Stokehouse in spring and new developments happening on down-at-heel Fitzroy Street.
“St Kilda is the only place that makes sense for us,” says Bouhadana, who lives locally and is working alongside husband Rapha Tamir. “My parents brought me to Acland Street when I was a kid, for ice-cream, cakes and Luna Park. We came to Claypots, too. We couldn’t let it be gutted, maybe turned into a KFC.”
Tamir’s grandparents came for regular Friday spaghetti marinara lunches and he remembers long meals under the courtyard’s bougainvillea. “It felt celebratory, with a casual, affordable approach to seafood,” he says.
Renan Goksin opened Claypots in 1998, serving gumbos, chilli crab and simple grills. The atmosphere was bohemian, musical and charmingly chaotic. Neelam Sami took over in 2016 and Claypots remained a grungy slice of old-time St Kilda until it closed in February.
Goksin has pointed out special features to the restaurant’s new custodians, who will retain some in their new fit-out. “He told me the bar is made from stolen pieces of the old St Kilda pier, so that’s non-negotiable,” says Tamir.
Canvas sails are suspended from rope pulleys as de facto air-conditioning. Carved seahorses double as door handles. Walls are stuck with faux Sumerian tablets etched with cuneiform (the world’s oldest-known writing system), clustered around one that is apparently real. An enormous pressed tin octopus hangs from the ceiling – a head-scraping hazard, but also an icon.
“We like the quirks and the energy but we’ll do our own thing,” says Tamir. “It’s going to be Ellie’s food, but we do feel attracted to St Kilda institutions and the Jewish immigrant story here.”
Dafina is named for a Sephardi Jewish slow-cooked meat-and-grain dish that speaks to Bouhadana’s Jewish Moroccan heritage. “It’s a claypot cooked overnight in the communal fire, in the embers of the dying coals,” she says. In Jewish culture, foods are often slowly cooked on Friday night’s cooling fire, ready for the Sabbath when cooking is not allowed.
“We’ll also do Moroccan-style brochette [kebabs], whole fish with cumin and garlic, lamb chops, dips and salad, lots of oil and vinegar, food for swiping with fresh-baked flatbreads.”
Bouhadana first came to attention for her lockdown pop-ups, including pasta parties and sandwiches sold from her driveway. She was the first chef at Collingwood wine-slash-listening bar Hope St Radio in 2021, and took the restaurant to a hat in the 2023 Age Good Food Guide. She left in 2024 and released her cookbook, Ellie’s Table, continuing with events and catering in Australia and overseas.
“I’ve been nervous to commit to a site,” she says. “But what I love about pop-ups is working with interesting people who become friends as we explore each other’s food and hosting style. It’s exciting to think about sharing my own hospitality. There’s a renewal in St Kilda, and we’re excited to put down roots and be part of that.”
Dafina Seaside Grill opens early 2027 at 213 Barkly Street, St Kilda.
