Paddington pub race heats up with reopening Bellevue Hotel after $2m spruce up

The renovated Bellevue Hotel In Paddington. Picture: Damian Shaw

“Yeah, the locals are going to want to get me on a crucifix I think,” laughs chef James Metcalfe, who has stepped into the kitchen after leaving the now The Bourbon in Kings Cross last year. “But, no, they’re gone. As nice as they are, times have changed.”

Chef James Metcalfe from the Bellevue Hotel in Paddington.

Metcalfe is introducing a small a la carte menu of modern-European dishes but “nothing too fancy”.

“We’re trying to get people to come on a regular basis,” he says. “We’re not pitching it too high — just a nice neighbourhood restaurant.”

The prices will be aimed at the mid-market, with one course for $35, two for $55 and three for $70.

Metcalfe says a $2 million renovation by owners the WDS Hotel Group, which also owns two properties in The Rocks — the Fortune of War, The Push in the Russell Hotel — has seen the total restoration of the Bellevue and removal of poker machines from the premises.

The renovation is part of a wider revitalisation of pubs in the Paddington area, with the Village Inn opening last week on Glenmore Rd, and hotelier Justin Hemmes working towards an October relaunch of his Paddington Arms on Oxford St.

The Bellevue was sold by a consortium associated with adman John Singleton last year for $4.5 million.

Source: The Daily Telegraph, Elizabeth Meryment Sydney Confidential, July 21^st 2015
Originally published as: Paddington pub race heats up with reopening Bellevue Hotel after $2m spruce up