The Last King of the Cross helps save Eros restaurant

Greek restaurant and bar Eros will reopen with the help of notorious nightclub owner John Ibrahim, who is currently the subject of Stan TV show Last King of the Cross.

Eros was shut down after previous owner Ussi Moniz Da Silva went missing. It is alleged Da Silva skipped the country after being accused of wage theft and having unpaid debts across several Kings Cross venues including Eros, Maali, Kings Cross Pavilion and Sinaloa.

Eros was forced to close after the independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) issued a 60-day temporary closure notice after police were informed that members of an outlaw motorcycle gang were plotting to commit an act of retribution at the bar.

Da Silva is also alleged to owe a substantial debt to the Australian Taxation ­Office.

Ibrahim, who has no association with the goings on at Eros, is the building’s landlord and has stepped in to help the venue’s new licensees.

The Potts Point venue will reopen in the coming weeks under the guidance of Christina Jaucian and her husband Lance Alalaatoa. Jaucian is King’s Cross royalty; her parents owned several clubs in the Cross in the 1980s and ’90s.

The pair will also reopen Maali, which hosted the premiere party the Last King Of The Cross in February, under new name Chicane. It will be billed as a “safe place” for a more upmarket crowd.

King Cross Pavilion will now be called KX Social.

Ibrahim has big development plans for a luxury apartment complex, complete with a ground floor bar and restaurant, proposed for the site which was home to Eros restaurant.

A development application for 28-38 Bayswater Rd, Potts Point was recently submitted to the City of Sydney by Hamptons Property Services. Ibrahim is the sole director of Cantabri, a company which bought the commercial blocks of 28-30 Bayswater Rd, 32 Bayswater Rd and 36 Bayswater Rd in January 2021.

The mixed-use development valued at almost $20 million includes five one-bedroom, 11 two-bedroom and six three-bedroom apartments, a ground floor retail space and a proposed bar and restaurant.

Current buildings on the site include Thai Rock restaurant and Eros.

The TV show is based on a book written by Ibrahim in 2017.

Jonathan Jackson - 20-3-23