Walking up Canning Street to The Wine Corner Store on a sunny day is joyous. There are people sitting at outside tables and lounging on the grass strip in the middle of the road with bottles of wine and snacks, catching up with friends and enjoying the tease of a possible early spring. It's a vibe. Steven "Stevie" Mifsud-Ellul opened The Wine Corner Store back in 2016 with a concept of mirroring the relationships that milk bar owners have with a neighbourhood - but instead of selling milk, bread and lollies, he sells wines, beers and delicious food. One of the more unique things about The Wine Corner Store is that people can enjoy a bottle of wine that would usually cost hundreds of dollars at a restaurant because Stevie sells it at retail price. Heading the kitchen is John Cassie. John has worked at several of my favourite Melbourne venues including The Palace Hotel, Verge, Cutler & Co, Bar Liberty, Capitano, Old Palm Liquor, Waxflower and Atticus Finch. John and I sat down and had a lovely chat with a glass of wine and then I was invited to stay on with my partner for dinner, or more realistically the feast that John sent out. John is a master of flavour, and I would be hard pressed to say which dish was my favourite. I started with briny sweet Sydney rock oysters from front-of-house Miles' family's oyster farm in Lake Wonboyn on the remote far south coast of New South Wales. There are some Maltese leaning dishes as a nod to Stevie’s heritage, such as the Bigilla, a hearty Maltese broad bean dip served with warm house-made flatbread, and then there was a pork rendang croquette with charred pineapple and a stunning Jerusalem artichoke with romesco. We also shared the Fettuccini with duck and radicchio ragu and a seafood Moqueca, which owes its origins to Brazil and perhaps John's earlier travels throughout South America. I loved it all and I am already thinking about when I can go back for more.