Jamie Oliver to open Brisbane restaurant in Rowes Arcade
CHEF Jamie Oliver will open his biggest Australian restaurant in Brisbane, tailored specifically for local tastes, habits and ingredients.
Jamie’s Italian, the fifth in the country to bear the name, will open its doors in the heritage-listed Rowes Arcade site on Edward St this year.
The 240-seat, multi-level restaurant, at the end of the Queen St Mall, will also feature an 80-seat bar.
While Brisbane has inherited offshoots of several five-star southern restaurants in recent years, including Aria and Stokehouse, the Oliver enterprise is priced more at the mid-range of the market.
Jamie’s Italian restaurants operate in Sydney, Perth and Canberra.
It also injects a serious destination restaurant into a non-riverfront section of the CBD.
While the venture had been rumoured since November, it was only yesterday that the Pacific Restaurant Group, which holds a franchise for Jamie’s Italian brand in Australia and New Zealand, admitted to it.
The move signals a strengthening of Oliver’s presence in the Australian market – as well as his Italian chain he also had an apprentice-training “15” restaurant in Melbourne.
In Queensland, he has injected significant resources into his Ipswich Ministry Of Food project, which teaches communities — often those at financial disadvantage or with high obesity rates — how to cook and eat healthily.
Jamie Oliver's new restaurant Jamie's Italian opened today at 140 William in Perth
The Italian chain has been reasonably successful elsewhere in Australia, with menus carefully shaped to match the dining habits of the target clientele in each city – the Perth restaurant is judged family-friendly while the Sydney CBD establishment caters for the business lunch crowd.
Pacific Restaurant Group managing director Adam Heathcote said: the Brisbane restaurant would be the largest of its kind in Australia.“Jamie’s Italian in Brisbane is going to be an eye-opener.
In recent years Edward St has developed as prime retail territory and is now home to up-market brands such as Cartier, Ralph Lauren and Hermes, and Tiffany & Co.
“The basement level will see the original sandstone walls retained with the fantastic ceiling elevation on the ground floor providing plenty of room to showcase some unique chandeliers.”
He said Jamie’s Italian produced simple, rustic and wholesome food.
The casual dining restaurant will feature dishes created by Oliver and his profile mentor and fellow chef Gennaro Contaldo.
At the Sydney restaurant, main dishes are priced between $23 and $32, and include simple baked lasagne, wild rabbit pasta and Jamie’s Italian burger, with black angus steak, smoked mozzarella, pancetta and sticky balsamic onions.
There are also plans to open the restaurant in Adelaide later this year.
Source: The Courier Mail - 7 February 2014
