Victor Liong's big plans in Melbourne's Duckboard Place

ONE of Melbourne's hottest new restaurants will close next year. But it certainly won't be the end for Lee Ho Fook, the exciting modern Chinese restaurant under the eye of chef Victor Liong, in Melbourne's increasingly hip Smith Street.

Businessman and restaurant lover Peter Bartholomew, one of the country's quieter but more influential players in the dining scene - with money in MoVida Group, Tonka, Coda, Rosa's Kitchen and Lee Ho Fook - has secured an amazing old warehouse in Melbourne's Duckboard Place, opposite Tonka. It will be the new home for Liong and, given suitable investment, could be the Melbourne equivalent of Mr Wong. Bartholomew estimates the new Lee Ho Fook could be open by September next.

SYDNEY: IF you go down to The Woods next year we can't say for sure what you'll find but, as reported previously, chef Hamish Ingham and his manager wife Rebecca Lines won't be there. Who will? We hear Sydney's Four Seasons is in discussion with two potential consultant chefs to direct the sexy, timber-burning dining space Ingham put on the map: one from Melbourne, the other Sydney. But who?

SYDNEY: AS flagged here last week, Guillaume Brahimi has signed a new restaurant deal that will see his team move from the Opera House to Paddington next year and into the space known for many years as Darcy's. The new restaurant, with Brahimi's head chef Jose Silva in charge, will be known simply as Guillaume and will open at Easter. The restaurant will aim for the high end.

MELBOURNE:CAFE entrepreneur Jason Jones (Porgie and Mr Jones, Friends of Mine, Snow Pony) has ditched plans to take on the old Louie (nee Lynch's) site in South Yarra's Domain, but he's got his hands on another site in the CBD's Alfred Place, near Comme. He's not giving anything away, except to say that it will be "an exciting concept". We hear it might involve ticketed dining. The real story, however, is his consultant chef on the project. She's had a great year, with a cracking new book on the shelves, but Philippa Sibley's official response is that she's not leaving Albert Street, the Brunswick (Melbourne) restaurant she put on the map. Don't be too sure about that.

Jock Zonfrillo is opening his first venture in Rundle Street, Adelaide.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: SA and Adelaide have had a lot of action this year, with Peel Street, Clever Little Tailor, Proof, Hentley Farm, Golden Boy and the carnivorous Daniel O'Connell Hotel all upping the ante in their first year on the block. Now comes the first restaurant of expat Scot Jock Zonfrillo in the premises remembered by many as Universal Wine Bar, in Rundle Street: Street-ADL (excuse me?) downstairs and Orana up. Zonfrillo, who left the Magill Estate camp earlier this year after differences with Penfold's chief winemaker Peter Gago, promptly poached (sorry, recruited) several Magill staff for his own venture. Big on native ingredients and produce, Zonfrillo's new set-price only Orana was under wraps when we snuck in for a sniff last week; Street is a good-looking, casual bar/eatery.

BRISBANE: TWO new ventures in Brisbane you might want to consider: Hatch & Co marks the second restaurant foray for the nightclubbin' Moubarak brothers, who have had such a solid success with the excellent Gerard's. Hatch is all about slow-cooked food, we hear, with words such as "local" and "sustainable" being bandied about. It's in Newstead; look for the beards and flannel shirts. If you like your dining more formal, Brissie veteran Romain Bapst (ex-Il Centro) has opened Lutece, in Bardon. His propaganda boasts that the restaurant is "the only venue in Brisbane that serves the exquisite pressed duck, a rare French delicacy dating back to the 19th century." C'est bien, we hear.

Source: The Australian, 19 November 2013