Cremorne's Tapioca restaurant closes

Cremorne's Tapioca restaurant shut its doors yesterday, its co-owner joining the chorus of restaurateurs voicing concern over the future of several lower north shore dining hubs after a raft of closures. 

Bancha Moolsuwan, who departed high-profile Sailors Thai restaurant four years ago to open Tapioca, says diners on the lower north shore rarely eat out mid-week and insist on BYO, making profitable trade difficult given tight restaurant margins.

"If we reopen in Sydney, it'll be closer to the city," he says.

Tapioca Restaurant, Cremome. Photo: Supplied

Moolsuwan's views are echoed by several operators who have departed Neutral Bay, where the list of restaurant casualties in recent years includes Neutral Bay Diner, White Hart, Blue Plate and Garden Brasserie.

"The area is affluent but there are big mortgages and private school fees. They wouldn't take beer to The Oaks, but many think it is their right to take wine to restaurants," says a departed chef-operator who asked not to be named.

Grant Collins, who opened White Hart but sold out of the business before it closed, believes over-supply is one of the major factors affecting Neutral Bay.

"When we opened we were one of a couple of new places; a few years later there were a dozen within a kilometre."

Others argue infrastructure issues, such as more parking stations, need to be addressed if the area is to sustain food growth.

While fitness businesses have sprung up in some sites, there's still a new breed ready to jump in.

On Australia Day a "British Indian" restaurant, The Colonial, opened its doors on Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay.

Source : Good Food Magazine   February 10th 2015      Scott Bolles