George Calombaris makes changes at Melbourne Made Group
MORE changes within George Calombaris's Melbourne Made Group mean fellow celebrity chef Manu Feildel or chef-restaurateur Michael Lambie is likely to take over CBD bistro PM24.
First Bite broke the news several weeks ago that PM24 was likely to close at year's end. It's understood staff at PM24, where chef Philippe Mouchel runs the kitchen, will be told tomorrow that final service is January 25, post Australian Open. That's not the only Made restaurant up for reinvention. South Yarra's MamaBaba will close the same day, and it's understood that if Feildel does not head to Melbourne to work for Made in the city, the MamaBaba site will be his, possibly under the moniker Le Grand Cirque. Lambie confirmed he's looking at sites in the CBD to "set up a fun Chinese Japanese fusion restaurant and bar". If Lambie does take on the PM site, it will be as a venture with Made's George Sykiotis, outside the group. Sykiotis is in business with Lambie at his successful gastropub The Smith in Prahran. "Manu is keen to put Sydney behind him and start afresh. He knows that, as a chef, it's time to re-establish his credentials," Sykiotis tells First Bite.
George Calombaris is ringing the changes in his Melbourne Made Group.
MELBOURNE: Calombaris has pulled his first lieutenant Luke Crostin from the Gazi kitchen in Melbourne to launch the reborn Press Club next month. First Bite had a sneak preview last week over lunch with some winemakers: the brass, timber and leather space - formerly food bar Little Press - looks quite special. Calombaris and Crostin previewed several dishes you can expect to find at the niche high-end Greek-inspired fine diner: tarama-poached marron with caramelised creme fraiche stood out from the pack; roast goose with beetroot puree and a feta fritter (we simplify, of course) was mighty impressive, too.
VICTORIA: On the glorious Mornington Peninsula, a couple of young guns are having a crack at their first restaurant. Clinton Trevisi, a man you may have seen on the floor at Royal Mail Hotel or, more recently, Flinders Hotel, has teamed with chefs Rowan and Janine Herald to open Terre next month at Dromana Estate vineyard in Tuerong. The three met at Royal Mail; the chefs come over from Salix, at Willow Creek's vineyard restaurant, where Rowan is head chef and Janine the pastry chef. Says Trevisi: "It will be a stripped-back approach to elegant dining. Small menu and an approach to local and seasonal that's more honest than some."
SYDNEY: Two Merivale Group chefs will move to Manly next year when the company launches Papi Chulo on the wharf. While Dan Hong will be executive chef for the project, Patrick Friesen (Ms. G's) and Christopher Hogarth (El Loco) will take the ferry to open the group's first restaurant north of the harbour. Expect meat, wood, southern American barbecue and Brazilian rotisserie.
MELBOURNE: First New Zealand, then Sydney, then London. But for coffee roasters Allpress there are few frontiers. With plans to open a roastery in Tokyo next year, the company is putting finishing touches to a substantial new roastery and eatery in Melbourne's Collingwood (Rupert Street, in the heart of the rag trade) that substantially ups the ante for the company in Melbourne. Former Sydney restaurateur Tony Pappas was back in Melbourne last week from London, where he has established the company, to help with the launch. The food sounds exciting, the space possibly unique in the suburb. The coffee should be OK too.
Source: The Australian, 26 November 2013
