If you go down ... The Woods to part ways with Hamish Ingham
Has the "good restaurants in smart hotels" bandwagon stalled? We hope not, but it is with regret we reveal The Woods, at Sydney's Four Seasons, will not continue next year with chef Hamish Ingham.
Chef Hamish Ingham and his wife Rebecca Lines will leave the Four Seasons, Sydney, and focus on their Surry Hills bistro instead.
"We had a one-year contract," says Ingham of the deal done with him and his wife, Rebecca Lines, to operate the foyer restaurant with its smoky, charry wood-grilled food. "I can't really go into the reasons (the contract has not been renewed)." The pair will renovate and focus on their Surry Hills bistro (Bar H), says Ingham, but hinted another project was imminent. A hotel spokesman, food and beverage director Carl Contractor, says while the hotel might consider another "consultant chef", it was too early for any decisions. Clearly something has not worked for one of the two parties.
Bill Granger, backed by Sydney restaurant and property businessman Leon Fink (Quay, etc), will almost certainly win the tender to operate a restaurant at the Opera House's Bennelong site next year. But it is wrong to suggest, as Fairfax Media did last week, that only two tenders, that of Granger/Fink and another by The Van Haandel Group, were received. The Sydney Opera House Trust slammed the Fairfax report last week as "grossly inaccurate and misleading", including that particular point. Our sources say that two more tenders - from Maurice Terzini (Icebergs) and Shannon Bennett (Vue Group) were submitted. Incumbent Guillaume Brahimi did not tender. The trust refuses to say when a decision will be announced, but our source said he expects to hear "within the next few weeks".
Bill Granger, backed by businessman Leon Fink, is likely to win the lease for the prestigious Bennelong, Sydney.
It’s called the French Quarter, but a huddle of Italians at the far east end of Hastings Street, Noosa, threatens a little Euro-trashing in the resort town. Rio Capurso, who owned Lindoni's (it closed in June), is bringing his team, including Milanese chef (ex-Cracco) Andrea Ravezzani, to the retail site beneath French Quarter resort. The site, empty for three years, has been remodelled by another Italian (Australian), architect Frank Macchia, as Locale. "We've been planning this thing for such a long time ... I hope everyone sees in it what I do," says Capurso. It will be a wide eating bar and slightly more formal dining room, he says, not an all-day, everyday cafe. Grazie, Rio. With luck, they open late this week.
Also in the area, Ben Walsh, of Pokolbin's Goldfish Bar, has relocated to Noosa and is about to open his first venture there in the former Ma Mensa site, also in Hastings Street (at the western end). Miss Moneypenny's will be a cocktail-focused business but will feature in-house charcuterie, with smoking and curing of meats, Walsh says. Open early next month.
The site has had issues. It was Canvas, Chester White and Orto and that was in just six years. Now it will be Hawthorn Common, in Melbourne's inner east, and tenant George Sykiotis will take his third crack at getting the concept right. In comes Melbourne cafe veteran Danny (Cafe Racer) Colls, last seen at Melbourne CBD's enviro-friendly cafe Silo. Colls will employ a lot of ideas at the Burwood Road site to create a bakery/cafe. Think organic waste dehydration, a flour mill on site, fermented products in-house (vinegars, yoghurts) and a small-batch roaster for coffee. Colls has form: finally, the formula might be right.
A change of chef at Perth hottie Ace Pizza means incumbent James MacDonald is heading east by car and looking for both adventure and a job. MacDonald, true to his prediction in 2012 while still working at St John, London, wants to work and live in Melbourne. "Perth was a bit quiet for us," says MacDonald. "It was a really good experience setting up and opening Ace, but I'll be in Melbourne next week and knocking on a few doors."
Source: The Australian, October 2013
