Top Darwin restaurant shuts its doors

Popular Darwin restaurant Phat Mango by Martin the Chef has gone into liquidation.

The restaurant on Knuckey St in the CBD opened in October 2020 with the aim to provide the community with local food that had “a story behind every ingredient”.

Owner Martin Bouchier took full responsibility for the closure saying it was a “real shame”.

“I made mistakes,” Bouchier told NT News.

“The worst one being because we weren’t making enough to cover all of our costs I didn’t pay super, which was stupid.”

“I am now working it through with the ATO to get it all done and dusted.”

A downturn in turnover in its final months put the nail in the coffin.

“It was like somebody turned the tap off after dry season — there was nobody here,” he said.

“A lot of those people have been out of work for a long time and don’t have the money willing to spend.”

This was exacerbated by cost-of-living issues and the increasing cost of supplies.

Despite the closure, Bouchier still holds fond memories.

“We made something good and nobody will ever convince me otherwise that we didn’t do some good,” he said.

“The highlights are some of the wonderful people that we met.”

“One of the last people to dine with us was Neil Finn.”

Phat Mango by Martin the Chef received four Gold Plate Awards from the Territory, along with several national and international awards.

“It’s a real real shame that the idea of creating something special and unique for Darwin didn’t work out — nobody goes into a business to want to go broke,” Bouchier said.

Jonathan Jackson - 7-2-23