George Calombaris and Vas Donoudis will join forces in the latest restaurant to come out of the Press Club Group, mamababa.

Located in South Yarra on the old warehouse site, mamababa will feature traditional Greek and Italian cooking but also be a vibrant hub for young hipsters to sip on cocktails and laugh the night away. “We want to have an up-tempo of place,” explained Donoudis to Neos Kosmos.

“We are going to have loud music, young and fresh people who are excited about it.” The food will be a mixture of Greek and Italian cuisine as Donoudis has experience in Italian cooking while Calombaris’ experience is heavily involved in Greek food. “We are going to feature pasta heavily, pasta isn’t only an Italian dish, it features heavily in Greek cuisine. I am looking at a pasta machine from Italy that will be able to produce about 30 – 40 kg of pasta an hour so it’s all going to be homemade.”

“It’s not going to be fine dining,” Donoudis told Neos Kosmos about the food. “It’s not going to be like anything else in Melbourne.

“The food is going to be aimed at the South Yarra demographic. “They don’t want to go spend six hours eating a degustation dinner, they want to have a few drinks, dinner and enjoy each other peoples company, larger groups. We are going to focus on cocktails as well.”

Working with Calombaris and The Press Club Group, Donoudis told Neos Kosmos, “it’s a great opportunity to move up from being head chef to being a partner and restaurateur – and with a great company and a great chef in George.”