Janus becomes shortest-lived restaurant of the year

With its grand launch in mid-May, the closure of Janus in Kings Cross makes it the shortest-lived restaurant of the year.

It is difficult to work out exactly what happened, but a spokesman for the landlord said: ''It just did not work.''

Janus took up residence in the former site of Concrete Blonde, a restaurant that was beset with so many challenges and chef changes that it earned the nickname ''Concrete Boots'' in some quarters before it closed in February. The restaurant, which also had a high-profile opening, boasted a $2.5 million interior that included designer grills and a wall of wine.

''There's a huge leg-up with the site's multimillion-dollar interior and we are already talking about the reactivation of the site with potential operators,'' says an agent for the property, Adam Spencer-Carr of Oxford Hotels. Fingers crossed the site lands a talented tenant.

Previous incarnation: Janus was Concrete Blonde.

Bayswater Road has proved one of Sydney's trickiest eat streets in recent years. One-time stalwart of the strip, the now closed Bayswater Brasserie, has seen Smith's on Bayswater and Ortolan on Bayswater both open and close at the site.

In March, Bayswater Diner closed after just six months despite The Sydney Morning Herald's chief restaurant reviewer Terry Durack naming its macaroni and cheese one of Sydney's best dishes under $10 earlier that month.

Former co-owner Peter Lew previously told Short Black he may have miscalculated the popularity of diner food, saying "I don't think people want to eat that sort of food every day."

Source: Good Food, 23 July 2013