After nine months of negotiations, award-winning chef Matt Moran will open a three-storey restaurant at the $6 billion harbour-front Barangaroo precinct.

Lend Lease unveiled plans for the freestanding statement restaurant on Monday, which is the first retail anchor tenant for the Barangaroo precinct.

It will be Mr Moran and his team’s seventh Sydney restaurant, after a string of successes such as CHISWICK, Opera Bar and ARIA.

“I am not going to do anything I have done before at Barangaroo,” Mr Moran said.

The restaurant, due to open in March 2016, will be one of about 50 food and beverage outlets at Barangaroo South, which is being developed by Lend Lease.

It will be housed in a building designed by Sydney architects Collins and Turner. The charcoal building will resemble several stacked shallow bowls of different diameters and shapes.

The restaurant, which will sit at the southern end near King Street Wharf, will have a casual lower floor, a more premium restaurant on the middle floor and a rooftop garden bar.

Mr Moran said the location and the chance to do something really different were the main drawcards.

“I love iconic locations and this one is world-class,” he said.

Mr Moran will work with his business partner Peter Sullivan from MorSul and Bruce Solomon and Anna Solomon from Solotel.

The MorSul and Solotel partnership is also behind ARIA at Circular Quay, Opera Bar at the Sydney Opera House and CHISWICK in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.

The team specialises in fresh produce-based food. Mr Moran describes his philosophy as “paddock to plate”.

The restaurant at Barangaroo will open at the same time as the waterfront dining precinct at International Towers Sydney, the three commercial towers being developed by Lend Lease. Its deal is for a 10-year lease with another 10-year option.

Head of retail development and asset management for Lend Lease Gary ­Horwitz said Mr Moran’s restaurant would be the first in a long line of major retailers that will call Barangaroo home.

“We had a lot of international retailers express interest in the site but Matt’s concept was just extraordinary,” Mr Horwitz said.

“We have done several retail deals at Barangaroo now but this is a major coup in terms of locking in a major tenant.”

Gelato Messina has already announced it will have a store at Barangaroo, while other famous names such as Neil Perry and Mike McEnearney have also been touted.

In total, there will be 80 different shops at Barangaroo, more than half of which are food and beverage related.

 

Source:  The Australian Financial Review - 8 September 2014