Legends and Trailblazers 2024: Local Heroes

If you haven’t been to Gerald’s Bar, you haven’t experienced Melbourne at its best. This 19-year-old Carlton North watering hole is one of those places that define a city’s drinking culture. Its founder, Gerald Diffey, has been almost Zelig-like in his habit of being right at the heart of essential hospitality movements in Victoria. He has been across coffee, baking and restaurants, he has run nightclubs and pubs, showcased the talents of some of our finest chefs and winemakers, has exported Melbourne cutlure to San Sebastian and back again, and is also a hell of a good waiter. He’s best known today for creating one of Australia’s most essential neighbourhood bars, but wherever he strikes, he creates communities, and his gift for bringing people together is second to none.

Plenty of people told the brothers Bertoncello they were insane for opening a fine dining locavore restaurant in outer suburban Beaconsfield. “Actually, they said we were fucking idiots,” says Chayse, who was 19 at the time to Blayne’s 23. Eleven years later, after a devasting fire and a move to new premises, they’ve collected just about every award going around without losing their brilliantly idiosyncratic soul. It’s a buzz dining at O My, the bijou 25-seater bursting with the heart and soul of two guys who love what they do. They still produce all their own fruit, vegetables, eggs and honey at their farm 10 minutes away and judiciously complement it with simpatico local produce. The drinks, overseen by Chayse, are a guaranteed good time, Blayne’s food keeps the zeitgeist on its toes, they play whatever music they want, and the staff are prone to mid-service fist bumps. “It’s a real let-your-guard down kind of place,” says Chayse. “That’s who we are, and we can’t pretend to be anything else.”