You may have seen Morning Glory bid farewell to customers, promising that although they are shutting their doors, it’s not goodbye forever…leaving us all very intrigued.

After a swift makeover, the team behind XO and Morning Glory will present their newest foodie venture, ILY. A contemporary kitchen serving only simple, comforting food, with plenty of twists and surprises.

An acronym for the phrase ‘I Love You’, ILY ties seamlessly with its XO sibling.

“This is a home-style kitchen, but not at all how we know it,” says co-owner Greg Lally.

“The cuisine dances on the edges of categorisation, somewhere between Modern Australian and contemporary European, but is not shackled to any geography, genre and technique.”

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, ILY’s day-time menu will include absolute breakfast winners, like breakfast gnocchi, sweet potato hash and trout rillettes, before transitioning to a lunchtime menu, serving up homely favourites including, chicken fattoush, steak frites and a beef burger adding in their own special twist.

Beef burger w/ brisket, swiss cheese, caramelised onion and mustard.

And of course, you can expect amazing coffee sourced from local roasters and a daily assortment of house made baked goods.

At night, dine in as delicious smells waft out of the kitchen and meet your table. Think roast chicken with spinach, confit garlic and artichoke and a potato pie, alongside their innovative surprises like, kingfish wing with burnt scallion and pickled onion and beef cheek rubbed in a spent-in-house coffee with malt glaze and cucumber.

While the menu is completely new, ILY is both an evolution and continuation of “Morning Glory” in the NewActon precinct.

Roast chicken w/ spinach, confit garlic and artichoke.

“The personality of ILY is borne from the team’s collective desire to explore the landscape of food and wine in Australia and service food that reflects this. ILY celebrates all that the team loves about food, wine and dining in Canberra and the patchwork of producers, innovators, instigators and consumers that support it. We are so excited to finally unveil what we have been working on this past year,” says Greg.

Under the skilful hand of Canberra design powerhouse Capezio Copeland, ILY’s interiors has been carefully thought out. Seeing a fresh, light palate bring new emotion and warmth to the dining room, with white, burgundy, and pink hues matching the character of ILY and the team’s focus on creating good food, with love.

Opening Sunday 9 May. For more information visit www.ILY.com.au. Open 7:00AM-3:00PM Sunday to Saturday, and 6:00PM-10:00PM Thursday to Saturday. Night service will begin May 20.