Bijou Bottle Store

Every bottle on the shelf can be opened and drunk in the room or carried out the door, at prices set for both. That single rule is what separates this from a wine list and from a bottle shop.

Why go

Ben Luzz took a narrow Little Collins Street shopfront for the windows and the ceiling height, put library-style shelving down it, and named it for a nineteenth-century theatre that used to stand nearby. He also runs Black Kite Commune, Gin Palace and Bar Ampere, so the buying is done by someone with several rooms to stock. The shelf rotates, with local and international pinot noir and shiraz always on it and less obvious styles like garganega beside them (Broadsheet). There is a short cocktail list led by the Bijou, which is gin, sweet vermouth and chartreuse, and a blackboard of things to eat with wine. In July 2026 the Australian trade voted it a Wine Bar of the Year finalist.

Order this / avoid

• Order: something off the shelf you would not order by the glass, since the price is the same either way. The Bijou if you want a cocktail. The confit garlic, caramelised onion and three-cheese toastie from the blackboard.
• Avoid: arriving with a group. The room is small enough that Broadsheet described it as threatening to spill onto the street.

What locals & experts say

• Mo Zhou, chef at Gaea: "Bijou is the perfect spot for one or two glasses with a few snacks. I love this place so much, I reckon I'd go there every day if I lived in the CBD." ref
• Australian Bar Awards 2026: a finalist for Wine Bar of the Year, on a peer vote of the Australian trade. ref
• Broadsheet Melbourne on the shelf: "a wide, rotating wine selection that always includes local and international pinot noir and shiraz, alongside less common styles like garganega." ref

Good to know

• Where: 194 Little Collins Street, in the CBD.
• Timing: not published anywhere we could reach. Check before a special trip.
• Booking: walk in.
• Class note: the master list had this filed as Utility, meaning never featured. A chef's unprompted pick and a national peer-vote finalist placing say otherwise, and it has been re-classed.
• Safety: Victoria publishes no per-venue hygiene rating. Safe Food Victoria's register of court convictions under the Food Act 1984 was read in full on 1 August 2026 and does not list this venue. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: none. Melbourne has no saved-places export in the repo, so nothing here can be traced to Jeff's own words.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Mo Zhou, who cooks at Gaea, said the useful thing: he would go here every day if he lived in the CBD. It is a small room on Little Collins with library shelving, big windows and a name borrowed from a nineteenth-century theatre that is no longer there, and the rule that makes it work is that every bottle on the shelf can be drunk on the spot or carried out. That turns a wine list into a shop, which is a better deal and a wider range: local and international pinot and shiraz always, plus things a bar list would not bother with, like garganega. There is a short cocktail list headed by the Bijou itself, gin, sweet vermouth and chartreuse, and a blackboard of snacks including a confit garlic, caramelised onion and three-cheese toastie. The Australian trade made it a Wine Bar of the Year finalist in July 2026. The master list had it filed as a utility bottle shop, which it plainly is not.