Moondrop Shakes Up Shanghai Spirit In Fitzroy

That staircase now leads to Moondrop, Fitzroy’s newest Chinese-inspired cocktail bar, created by the trio behind Carlton North favourite Sleepy’s Cafe & Wine Bar: Steve Chan, Jesse Kourmouzis, and Jacob Muoio.

It takes over the former Everleigh space, a venue so storied it practically comes with its own aura. Instead of competing with that legacy, Moondrop pivots entirely, leaning into old-world Shanghai glamour with a distinctly Melbourne sense of play.

For co-owner and front-of-house spirit guide Steve Chan, Moondrop is personal. It’s both a love letter to his Chinese heritage and a way of sharing the sensory shorthand many of us Asian-Melburnians grew up with: the familiar hum of White Rabbit sweets, the unmistakable smell of Nin Jiom cough syrup, the soft nostalgia of paper lanterns and Mahjong nights. Chan says he’s been reconnecting more deeply with his heritage over the years, using food and drink as a bridge for storytelling and culture-sharing.

And you feel it the moment you walk in.

The old bluestone bones are still there, but now they sit under a white-draped ceiling glowing gently from a giant orb that looks like a moon you could actually touch. The bar stretches long and red, tiled with pieces hand-painted by the Moondrop team themselves. Custom Mahjong tables are tucked into the walls like little secrets, and red velvet curtains soften the room into a kind of intimate night-time haze.

Behind that bar is Co-Director and Head of Beverage Jesse Kourmouzis, whose CV includes seven years at Above Board and managing the bar during multiple appearances on the World’s 50 Best Bars list.

The drinks here are not gimmicks. They’re sharp, clever, and deeply considered, riffing on traditional Chinese flavours in ways that feel modern rather than novelty.

Think cocktails built with baijiu, lapsang souchong vermouth, sesame, pineapple, ume, and yes, MSG. The M.S. Gibson hits like an ice-cold Shanghai martini, built with dry vermouth, brine and baijiu. The Chanhattan mixes Nikka From the Barrel with lapsang-infused vermouth and a delicate chocolate tuile, a nod to Chan himself. The Moondrop Negroni uses tangerine peel vermouth and comes stamped with a custom moon-rabbit ice cube, tying into Chinese folklore woven throughout the venue’s branding.

If you grew up Asian, there’s an extra layer of joy seeing these ingredients elevated with such clarity. Thai Red Bull foam. Ube. Jasmine tea. White Peach. And, in the wildest but most logical move, Nin Jiom syrup on the back bar, waiting for its era.

The snacks follow the same Chinese-Australian logic: playful, clever, and familiar without being predictable. Jacob Muoio, who started his career as a pastry chef, runs the food program with a rotating dumpling menu and bar plates that feel perfect for long nights of drinking. You’ve got prawn crackers, cheddar and osmanthus tartlets, pork and chrysanthemum dumplings, and yes, the Chinese bolognese jaffle that feels like a cheeky cousin of Sleepy’s cult toastie. For dessert, there’s snowskin mooncake filled with vanilla and red bean ice cream or green tea ice cream, depending on the season.

What Moondrop does so well is balance the warmth of Chinese hospitality with the polish of top-tier Melbourne cocktail culture. It’s the kind of bar that understands ritual, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. The kind of bar where Mahjong is built into the furniture and lion dancers will appear for Lunar New Year because of course they will.

Chan has said he wants Moondrop to feel welcoming rather than exclusive, a place where the hospitable part of hospitality actually matters. And honestly, it shows. The room is pretty, the cocktails are very pretty, but the whole thing feels grounded in something more personal. Something cultural, communal, and unmistakably Asian-Australian.

Moondrop isn’t just the newest Fitzroy bar. It feels like a new chapter in how Melbourne drinks Chinese.

And yes, the cool kids have already found it. They always do.