Suzie Q
Year
2024
Client
Mama's Dining Group
Service
Culinary Creative Director
Modern Cantonese for a room that knew what it wanted to be. A nod to the past with a Melbourne sensibility, built to last.
© Suzie Q
Context
Suzie Q arrived as the second of three Mama's Dining Group launches, opening one month after Windsor Wine Room. Two storeys, 150 seats on Chapel Street: an '80s-tinged Cantonese dining room sitting above a karaoke bar. The brief wasn't to make a good Chinese restaurant. It was to build a culinary identity that could hold its own in a city with genuine Cantonese dining culture, attract a crowd that knew the difference, and operate inside a high-volume group trading environment. A nod to the past that still ran like a serious modern operation.
The room came with ambition and red leather booths. The rest had to be built.
What we built
Scope
Concept development · Kitchen design & build · Equipment sourcing · Supplier setup · Team recruitment · Culinary direction · Menu architecture · Dish development · Recipe books · SOPs · Training protocols · Documentation · Health & safety · Council approval · Launch · Ongoing management
Three rooms: main dining, private dining, and a karaoke room. Each with its own energy and occasion logic. The karaoke room isn't an afterthought. It's a cultural position.
Menu architecture structured around table-sharing logic: dishes calibrated for group rhythm, not individual covers. Cantonese technique as the anchor, Melbourne produce and palate as the lens. Classic references made precise: the kung pao reworked with serious heat and texture discipline, the dumplings in chilli oil done with enough restraint that the braise could speak. A noodle dish that became the thing regulars came back for.
Beyond the menu: kitchen systems, recipe books, station SOPs, training protocols. A plating language consistent enough that the dish looked the same on a Friday night at 250 covers as it did at the first staff meal.
Signature moment
MFWF collaboration with Brendan Pang. Two culinary directors, one kitchen, a sold-out room within months of opening. The kind of night that sets a venue's cultural position more than any review.
Outcome
We opened Suzie Q with a clear culinary identity, repeatable kitchen systems and a menu language that could hold across main dining, private dining and karaoke. Then ran it ongoing alongside Windsor Wine Room while opening DISUKO. Three venues under management at peak.
Press
“Head Chef Michael Stolley … is executing this all with playful contemporary flair.” Concrete Playground, Jul 2024
“Head chef Michael Stolley will laser in on classic Cantonese-style dishes, but with Mamas' signature modern spin.” Time Out Melbourne, May 2024
“An exclusive evening with our Head Chef Michael Stolley presented by Square. Stolley's menu combines bold, experimental dishes with Chinese classics.” Melbourne Food & Wine Festival / Suzie Q Chef's Table, Mar 2025
“Stolley has also dreamt up Suzie Q's menu, inspired by classic Cantonese cuisine.” Concrete Playground, May 2024
DISUKO
Windsor Wine Room