The bar and café section of 11 Waymouth Plaza’s major tenancy, Eleven, founded by Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis, has opened, offering all-day food and beverage in a quiet inner-city oasis.

On Thursday, 14 December, the first phase of Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis’ hospitality project, Eleven, launched on Waymouth Street.

Both co-founders are spritely in spirit when we meet at 10:30am that day, especially considering their 7am start and the mammoth two weeks they’ve had in preparation for today.

As we take a seat next to the service bar on the upper level of the plaza, a small group of government workers takes over the table behind us. They’ve seen the project come together from a few floors above in a nearby building.

The restaurant element of the project is still in the building phase, but the bar and café has plenty on offer, from Mitolo coffee and Abbots & Kinney pastries early in the morning, through to a considered selection of wine and food into the afternoon and evening.

The wine list was curated by Geoffrey Hunt, formerly of FermentAsian, and the menu is designed by head chef Dan Murphy, formerly of Appellation.

“It starts off in the morning with coffees and pastries and just good quality, local pastries,” Themis tells CityMag.

“Our lunch trade will include our bar menu that you can get at night, but on top of that we’ll have our grab-and-go option.

“We’ve fully recognised that we’re in the CBD and people don’t always want to come and spend $30—$40 at lunch every day, so there’s got to be an affordable grab-and-go option.

“It’s still going to be a super-charged grab-and-go – so it’s going to be your taleggio and mushroom and prosciutto toastie, that kind of stuff.”

Amongst the dishes is a spiced lamb pie, duck liver parfait, salmon rillette, beef tartare and a prawn and lobster roll, all around $15. These can be paired with options from the heavily South Australian-focussed wine list (with only a few interstate and international exceptions), with many of the by-the-glass pours available for between $12—$14.

“We wanted to have the option for people who wanted to literally come and have a knock-off drink after work and just have some little nibbles and snacks to accompany a glass of wine or a beer or whatever it might be,” Callum says.

“But we wanted to structure it in such a way that if you order enough dishes, have enough freshness, have enough variety, have enough substance to it that you then can just order a couple more dishes and all of a sudden it is a proper dinner and you feel like you’ve eaten at a restaurant.”

Design firm Brighter has delivered the graphic identity for Eleven, and Studio Nine Architects is responsible for the built form of the space.

The focus for Themis and Callum was to give over as much space as possible to diners, in order to provide as many CBD workers with access to the peaceful plaza as possible.

“We spent a lot of time on the design process, making sure we could cram as much efficiency into the small space,” Themis says.

“Priority has been given to people to actually be able to enjoy the space.”

“We’re very, very lucky to have this location,” Callum continues.

“It’s a little oasis in the middle of the city, because, whilst we’re on Waymouth Street, can you hear a car? I can’t. It’s nice and peaceful here. I think it’ll be quite a relaxing little getaway from people’s offices.”

The duo is excited to have opened on Waymouth Street. This is the first business they’ve opened in a high-foot-traffic area, with cooking school Sprout located on Sir Donald Bradman Drive and their recently opened Barossa restaurant Lou’s on site at Lou Miranda Estate.

Given their ability to squeeze success from these destination venues, they feel confident about their future in the CBD.

“If we just do what we’ve always done well – which is promote our brand well and stay true to who we are – and then on top of that we create an inviting venue where you’ve got foot traffic, I’m excited about what we can achieve,” Themis says.

Eleven’s bar and café is located at 11 Waymouth Plaza and operates from 11am ‘til 8pm Monday and Tuesday and 11am ‘til midnight Wednesday through Saturday.

The Eleven restaurant is scheduled to launch in March 2021. Keep an eye on Facebook and Instagram for updates, or subscribe to CityMag for the latest.