Jake Nicolson leaves The Prince of Wales

It's been a dramatic few weeks for the Melbourne Pub Group. First food supremo Paul Wilson resigned; now Jake Nicolson, the super-talented executive chef at The Prince of Wales (Circa etc) has revealed he's off to a cracking new role in Brisbane.

Nicolson, Appetite for Excellence Young Chef of the Year winner in 2008, will be a big loss to the group after more than seven years at Circa under two owners. "My decision to leave Circa was certainly not easy, one I considered a great deal for many months," says the Brissie-bound chef. He's joining the Ghanem Group to launch Blackbird at the Riverside Centre in the CBD and become executive chef over the company's other assets, 5th Element and Saj & Grill, at Southbank, and Byblos, at Portside. Blackbird will have a 1920s prohibition theme and steak will play a major role.

Chef Jake Nicolson (seen here winning the 2008 Young Chef of the Year award) is moving from Melbourne to Brisbane.

"Brisbane has a fantastic and rapidly growing culture for great food and wine," says Nicolson, who relocates following a trip to the US in September, "with some very talented chefs, sommeliers and industry professionals already on the scene up there." Nicolson says he's grateful for the opportunity over the past 18 months to have relaunched Circa into what it is today.

"There are some very talented and hard-working members of staff at Circa; I have no doubt they will continue to do a fantastic job without me." Melbourne Pub Group will put its faith in Nicolson's deputy, Ashly Hicks, who moved to Melbourne from Brisbane last year to join the ill-fated Brix, before joining MPG.

Source: The Australian, 23 July 2013