Sobering reading in North Group report
THE size and scope of the North Group's spectacular collapse have surprised even veteran restaurant watchers.
The outstanding superannuation guarantee - money owed to staff past and present over seven years, in some cases - is only slightly less than $1 million. The administrators of Justin and Georgia North's three companies, Ferrier Hodgson, have been uncomplimentary about the companies' management and systems. The report makes sobering reading, but any would-be restaurateur might examine them and think about their implications.
FOR Perth chef Zoe Roy, her opening menu for Swallow - a "bar with great food" in the up-and-coming suburb of Maylands - is actually her second. Roy, who moved to Perth three years ago from Melbourne where she was head chef at Fitzroy's The Commoner, first wrote a summer menu believing she'd be open during the appropriate season. "We've had to deal with a lot of bureaucracy," says Roy of launching Swallow with her partner, Meredith Bastian, also a chef. "I think (compared with Melbourne) there's a lack of understanding here of small spaces and their potential." Roy has been working for Perth restaurant identity Peter Manifis, at Incontro. Nevertheless the "bar" run by two chefs (the food should be special) will probably be open this weekend.
VICTORIAN chef Annie Smithers, of Kyneton, was last night recognised by the annual delicious Produce Awards as a champion of her region. She was awarded Best Use of Regional Produce by a Chef Other winners at last night's ceremony in Brisbane included seafood expert John Susman, who was awarded Best Provedore, while Otway Forest Shiitake Mushrooms, in Victoria, and Cedar Street Cheeserie, in Maleny, Queensland, shared Best New Product for their mushrooms and buffalo milk haloumi respectively.
IT'S not a done deal, but . . . Balmain restaurateur Erez Gordon (Bistro Bruno) must be confident of his bid for defunct Surry Hills restaurant Tabou, because his partner in the deal has already left Melbourne for Sydney. Chef Paul Cooper cooked his last meal at South Melbourne's O'Connell's last Thursday before putting his family in the car to follow a removal truck up the Hume. Cooper was reluctant to talk about it; Gordon said the lease had not been signed. But he did say Cooper, a talented chef who worked with Gordon when he ran a series of Melbourne pubs, will be his partner in the Tabou project. Chef Daniel Cairns will move to O'Connell's from the nearby Railway Club Hotel, the owners of which recently bought the iconic but slightly faded pub/restaurant.
WORD on the sun-drenched streets of Brisbane is that celebrity chef Matt Moran and his partners are planning a second Chiswick for the Queensland capital. According to Brisbane observers, the site earmarked is the former Boardwalk lease at Eagle Street Pier, destroyed in the epic floods 18 months ago. Moran's comment is that nothing is confirmed. The chef already has a northern branch of Aria nearby.
IN Melbourne's Chapel Street, the once trendy Pan Asian is locked and empty, no doubt awaiting a new tenant. Nearby, tea merchant and unlikely restaurateur David Zhou has done a sterling job with the reinvention of David's, his Shanghai-inspired warehouse restaurant. Not only is the refit wonderful; the entire restaurant and its offering have been rethought. Worth a revisit.
Source: theaustralian.com.au - 17/07/2012
