Team of three swings into action to open 4Fourteen
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"Originally we were really going to dumb it [the food] down. We were going to go a lot simpler. But in the end it isn't what I'm about," says chef Colin Fassnidge about the menu at his new Surry Hills eatery, 4Fourteen. The Four in Hand chef, along with partners Carla Jones and Joe Saleh, opens 4Fourteen at 72a Fitzroy Street this week. And the menu? "It's our style, but a combination of smaller dishes and a couple of big ones to share," he says. Fassnidge agrees the site, where a short-lived branch of Le Pain Quotidien traded, has had a chequered history. "We are under an old swingers' club," he adds. They've done a good job of the interior, mixing the bones of the building and its old wall with white tiled banquettes and an open kitchen. He plans to open 4Fourteen on Thursday.
Guerilla chef finds it's a jungle out there
Omar Andrade, the guerilla dining chef who held events at secret Sydney venues before coming in from the cold to open El Capo last year, is closing the restaurant. "Everyone in Surry Hills is feeling the pinch,'' he says. ''Although the business is doing well, I've just had a child so feel it's time to move on.'' Andrade, who ideally would like to sell the restaurant to a young chef, says the Waterloo Street eatery will close "in about a month". By the sound of things he's about to branch out into a new area of guerilla dining. "I have a plan to tame food bloggers, colleagues have long been suggesting it has gone too far," he says.
Gardner joins the gallery crowd
With Bird Cow Fish closed, the next stop for the restaurant's co-owner and floor maestro, Howard Gardner, has been a hot topic. Gardner has landed at the restaurant at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, an eatery that previously had all the dining buzz of a student art prize. But he's in good company. The restaurant has also snared head chef Dean Sammut, who earned stellar reviews at Artespresso and Atlantic in Canberra. His sous chef, Marc Cartwright, worked at Quay and Longrain. Sounds just the ticket for lovers of the culinary arts and, yes, there's a special Archibald menu.
Fish Shop chef gets a nibble on Bistrode
While Jeremy Strode has thrown open the doors of The Fish Shop at Potts Point, word on Sydney's eat streets is the chef has finally found a buyer for his original Bistrode restaurant in Surry Hills. The Bistrode site on Bourke Street has garnered interest from several high-profile restaurateurs, but Short Black hears Kirby Craig, a young chef with Tetsuya's on his CV, is about to snare the restaurant. It's believed the deal has advanced to a deposit being taken. "I'm not going to comment until a deal is over the line," Strode says. The Fish Shop, in the old Lotus site at 22 Challis Avenue, has been the hottest ticket in town during the past week, with Sydney's food glitterati flocking to its opening nights. Dishes mostly under $20 are only part of the appeal. Strode, pictured left with head chef Jonathan Thorne, says the menu includes a favourite cuttlefish recipe from The Fish Shop owner Justin Hemmes.
Connell loses battle with cancer
Restaurateur Tim Connell, 60, has died of cancer. Born in Melbourne, Connell spent a large part of his working life in Sydney. He was part of the team that brought the Last Aussie Fishcaf to Sydney from Melbourne in the late 1980s and was a co-owner of Coast at Cockle Bay at the time of his death.
Can we have the bill? And hold the attitude
If the wait staff at Li'l Darlin in Darlinghurst are looking for a tip, perhaps they should ditch the free insults with the restaurant bill. Judy Barnsley was shocked to find the words ''Old People'' on her bill, presumably as a description so staff could easily match Barnsley and her dining companion with their receipt. ''We aren't that old, 59 and 61,'' she says. But Barnsley smells a rat in Sydney's burgeoning wine and food scene. ''We've often encountered subtle ageism in Sydney restaurants where, for example, we are marched to an obscure table down the back or just ignored, but we've never seen it codified before … What's even more galling, we're both native to the inner city, having lived in Darlo and around more or less since we left school, unlike these newcomers.'' Li'l Darlin owner Gary Linz is apologetic about the incident. ''The guy who did this was fired the next day,'' he says. ''Li'l Darlin doesn't discriminate against anyone. We tried table numbers but people moved them around. Normally they'll just write something like 'person in red T-shirt'.'' Using restaurant receipts as a canvas for waiter expression has been going on for at least a decade. Some time ago a Sydney cafe inserted the word ''Bitch'' as the special dish on a receipt.
New guide rates the Sunshine state's plates
Looking for hot places to dine and drink in Queensland? The state now has its own Good Food Guide, published by Fairfax Media, the publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald. There are 450 reviews in the brisbanetimes.com.au Queensland Good Food Guide and, last night, awards and hats were announced. Brisbane restaurant Public was named Riedel Glassware Best New Restaurant and Esquire - co-owned by chef Ryan Squires - was Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year. The Long Apron on the Sunshine Coast nabbed the Rekorderlig Cider Regional Restaurant of the Year award. The guide is available as a book, an app and an e-book. See goodguides.com.au/queensland.
Quay fortified by sherry bar venture
Dust off your old bottles of sherry, because their currency is on the rise. Frank Dilernia, a fixture on the floor at Buzo in Woollahra for the past decade, is opening a small bar with a sherry bent near Circular Quay towards the end of next month. Located at 8 Bulletin Place, Tapavino will sell 14 sherries by the glass. "We want to be one of the first sherry bars in Australia," Dilernia says. Man cannot live on sherry alone, so Tapavino will feature 200 wines and a jamon room.
Ingersoll to wax lyrical, from Danks to Slow Food
Chef Jared Ingersoll will discuss the evolution of the Danks Street eating precinct, the Slow Food movement and food miles at a special talk with Good Living's Helen Greenwood next Tuesday at Waterloo Library (6.30-7.30pm). It's part of the City of Sydney's In Conversation series.
LONG BLACK
British chefs Heston Blumenthal, of the Fat Duck, and Simon Hulstone have created new Olympic Games menus for their national airline. They looked to the 1948 London Olympics - when British Airways served consomme royale, Cape salmon mayonnaise and corned silverside - for inspiration. Today's travellers can expect fish pie, mackerel and pickled cucumber.
Stanley Street pioneer Bill and Toni's has joined the NSW Food Authority's name and shame list, slapped with five fines.