Rockpool shuts down
Rockpool, one of Australia’s most esteemed restaurants, is about to close.
The upmarket Sydney restaurant, which has been awarded 66 chef hats since it opened in 1989, will shut down on July 30.
Neil Perry, who had run the fine dining restaurant over the last 27 years, will open his new restaurant Eleven Bridge nine days later.
Perry says Eleven Bridge will have a more flexible a la carte menu.
Indeed, it will feel a lot more like the Rockpool from 20 years ago. The food will be sourced locally.
Perry says he is still working on the Eleven Bridge menu with chief executive Phil Wood.
But he told Business Insider it will have shades of Rockpool with “some of the old re-imagined and the new, with a few current favourites in the mix."
“It has been a difficult decision, having dedicated the past 27 years to making Rockpool Est. 1989 one of Australia’s best and most awarded restaurants,” Mr Perry said in a statement.
“However, after much consideration and conversation, we have decided to move away from the traditional concept of fine dining that Rockpool Est. 1989 has forged its reputation on.”
“Our motivations to close Rockpool and open Eleven Bridge are varied but the most significant is that we have two Rockpool restaurants in close proximity (referring to Rockpool Bar & Grill) and we have at least 100 guests turn up to the wrong one every month.”
Perry opened Rockpool in February 1989 with his business partner and cousin Trish Richards. Their plan was to establish one of Australia’s finest restaurants. Just six months after it opened, it was voted Sydney’s best new restaurant in the Good Food Guide.
‘What followed was a long list of awards, both here and overseas.
Perry has played around with the Rockpool concept for some time.
Nine years ago, he made it go more casual but went back to fine dining 18 months later.
Now diners will see what he has planned next.
by Leon Gettler, June 1st 2016
