A Bali high for Sydney-based Robert Marchetti
Restauratuer, chef, food consultant and sausage vendor Robert Marchetti has inked yet another deal since severing ties with former partner Maurice Terzini that will see him working in Bali several weeks a year.
Marchetti will consult to one of Bali's richest people, Kadek Wiranatha, on two restaurants for his under-construction Double Six beachfront hotel, due to open in Seminyak in December. The deal will see a Seminyak franchise of Marchetti's North Bondi Italian Food as well as a Raffles-inspired "colonial style steak house", Plantation Grill. There is also a food component - a kind of hybrid Balinese/Italian satay grill - to a rooftop cocktail bar that has direct waterfront views. The intensely private Wiranatha is understood to have children at Victoria's exclusive Geelong Grammar School and an apartment in Toorak; he is a regular at Marchetti's GAS trattoria at Crown. "I have had a long relationship with Robert's restaurants and food," Wiranatha said in a press release. "He was a natural fit for this exciting project." Wiranatha and his brother Gede, trading as PT Gde & Brothers, are said to own Bali's wealthiest company. Among their many interests is the bar-restaurant Ku De Ta.
Robert Marchetti will open a franchise of his highly successful North Bondi Italian and a "colonial style steak house" in a new venture with Bali's richest businessman.
ADELAIDE: Not with a bang but a whimper, one of Adelaide's best-known restaurants closed at Christmas. Urban Bistro, which opened in 2002 under the stewardship of chef Bethany Finn and her partner Spencer Cole, was due to reopen on January 5 after a break. But it hasn't happened. "We've decided to retire Urban," said Finn, who says the business has been on the market for a year and that there are at least two interested parties close to a purchase. "We've had a fab 11 years ... but our focus now is just getting away from the daily grind ... getting a feel for what's happening at ground level. Someone can cook breakfast for me for a change."
SYDNEY: Urban wasn't the only summer casualty. In Sydney,Christine Manfield broke the news she will close Universal after Easter. Manfield has many strings to her bow and undoubtedly will remain visible. And Jared Ingersoll, having closed his Cotton Duck restaurant last year after a short season (it's now MoVida) also announced the closure of Danks Street Depot. And having failed to sell Assiette, in Surry Hills, Kiwi Warren Turnbull will reinvent the place as Albion Street Diner, having recently done the same thing with District Dining nearby to create Mexico.
MELBOURNE: It must have been a month of bittersweet emotions for the Melbourne Pub Group and its two most visible identities, chef Paul Wilson and entrepreneur Julian Gerner. On one hand, their Acland Street Cantina, in the basement of the Prince of Wales Hotel, has taken off, which is hardly a surprise; the food is wonderful. But failure to gain traction for their Cellar Bar, beneath the Newmarket Hotel, led to a very short season and unusually rapid decision-making. Just a few months in, the set-menu, fine-dining Latino dining space has been put on ice, undoubtedly costing the company a mint.
SPAIN: Speaking of Mexican (70 Mexican restaurants opened in Australia last year, according to Wilson, an expert on the subject these days) the Adria brothers - Ferran and Albert - will open their own, Yaguarcan, in Barcelona during the European summer. It will join Tickets (already open) and Pakta, a Japanese-Peruvian hybrid, which opens in March, as the El Bulli maestros make their restaurant industry comeback. Pakta will seat 30 and will feature an estimated 35 dishes, with an ever-evolving menu created in part by Jorge Munoz Castro, a Spanish chef with Peruvian roots, and Kioko Li, from Japan.
AWARDS: In a world where absurd adulation is heaped on minor talent, courtesy of the television industry and its peripheral media partnerships, this column salutes Neil Perry's Member of the Order of Australia. What a pity commercial television referred to the recipient as a "celebrity chef". The phrase has become meaningless. But Perry has spent more time in the pursuit of running good restaurants than probably any chef in Australia. We say: well done.
MARGARET RIVER: Making a welcome return to the Margaret River region, chef Brad Hornbyand partner Liz Buttimore have arrived at Wills Domain, in Yallingup. The pair made a strong impression at Knee Deep winery before a stint in Melbourne, she managing the restaurant at Sofitel, he freelancing as a chef. The new regimen pushes the acclaimed winery into the ranks of restaurants seriously worth a look down south.
Source: The Australian, 29 January 2013
