Moody new bar Pastel is set to bring a dynamic food offering, more than 130 wines and beautiful design to North Adelaide’s restaurant scene this month.

Taking over the L’italy site on O’Connell Street, Pastel Wine Bar is the newest restaurant-slash-bar to join the area’s resurgence of bite-sized nightlife.

The wine bar concept comes from a new collection of well-known hospitality heads: 1000 Island co-owner Daniel Vaughan, local designer and artist James Brown of 2049 (and Africola and Chicco Palms), and Elijah Makris and Saba Maghsoudi of Studio Mazi, who recently opened Pinco Deli.

While Daniel’s hospitality career has taken him to many bars around Adelaide – and a beach club in Bali – he tells CityMag Pastel is a slower-paced project he’s been able to put a lot of heart into.

James Brown and Sabrina Sterk from 2049 are the design team, who, alongside local builder Sam Weckert of Tiger Build, have created a space that is both functional and charming.

Inside, after you pass through the curtained entrance, you’re greeted with warm timber tones, cool painted brick, and the marble countertops of the dining room and bar.

A seated bar area close to the entrance lets you glance out onto the street through round windows, as though you’re peering out from the bottom of a barrel.

Past the dining room and bar, a hallway leads to the courtyard, which is painted in fun pastel shades. There’s some greenery around the sides, as well as a DJ table.

The bar is moody, warm and a little bit seductive.

“We’re really excited for this in North Adelaide,” Daniel says, adding he’s seen a lot of other successful restaurants in the area.

“We’re trying to create a really warm and friendly environment… We want to become a regular rotation in people’s dining experience in Adelaide.”

The initial concept, Daniel says, was to create a space that mimics how he eats and drinks at home, sampling dishes from different regional food cultures – referencing experiences he’s had of friends from said cultures coming over with their own dishes.

This homely approach is also reflected in the wine list, which, despite numbering around 130 drops, is intended to be broadly accessible.

“A lot of it is going to be complementing the food, not exclusive to South Australian wines. It’s from anywhere, you know, whatever is good,” Daniel says. “Whatever we like drinking and whatever is gonna pair well with the food.”

Pastel’s food offering has some “cracking dishes”, according to Daniel – a selection of favourites from different cuisines, like a whipped ricotta dish with za’atar, pita and a bit of honey for sweetness; a Kingfish sashimi with nahm jim dressing; house-made pork and prawn dumplings; and chicken skewers served with toum and pita.

Daniel says the chefs on board have a good understanding of the types of cuisine he wants to plate up. Pastel has two head chefs, Darek Krzywdzinski, who previously worked at Peel St Restaurant, and Nathan Liu, formerly of Gin Long Canteen.

Pastel will also have a list of cocktails that’ll include some Negroni and Martini variations and will feature Brighter Later gin.

“It’s really more about how we can make someone feel walking out of this place – you could come here whenever, for anything. You can come here on a date, you could come here by yourself, with your family; you could come here with 20 people and book out the courtyard out the back,” Daniel says.

Pastel Wine Bar is slated to open on Thursday, 20 October. Visit the business’s Instagram page for updates.