End of the road for Taxi Dining Room

ANOTHER high-end dining room falling victim to the ever-creeping casualisation of Australian eating out?

It's hard to draw any other conclusion as news emerged last week that Taxi Dining Room, at Melbourne's Federation Square, will close next month after the tennis. A four-week revamp will see the original Peter Maddison (Grand Designs Australia) fitout replaced with a new look by designers Eades & Bergman. Taxi will relaunch as Taxi Kitchen "with a brand new look, feel, name, offer and direction", we're told. Executive chef Tony Twitchett will stay on "doing my food in Taxi Kitchen".

Executive chef Tony Twitchett will remain as Taxi Dining Room becomes the more casual Taxi Kitchen.

ADDING to a rash of recent mid-market openings in Brisbane, well-known restaurateur Michael Conrad (Restaurant Two, Bistro Three) has just tapped the keg of his latest, most ambitious project, Newstead Brewing. In rapidly evolving Newstead, where developments such as the now-open Gas Works are adding new life, Conrad has gone down the path of a "brew house", essentially a gastro pub attached to the city's newest craft brewery. Conrad has engaged chef Peter Swatton.

NEWSTEAD Brewing joins a gaggle of new places in Brisbane chasing the Gen Y-X dollar. Veteran of the local dining scene PJ McMillan (Harvey's) has recently thrown open the doors of Tinderbox Kitchen in Fortitude Valley next to his fancier restaurant. The main feature of the place is a massive, Beech wood-burning oven, for most of the dishes and pizza. Also in Fortitude Valley, the folks behind Alfred & Constance have recently opened Chester Street, a bakery by day (with a wood oven) and a simple, rustic dining concept by night. Again, pizza's an option. The same team has also opened Alfredo's, a dedicated pizzeria not far away. It doesn't end there: the new M&A residential/commercial development, also in Fortitude Valley, is, naturally, home to a swag of eateries. Papa Jack's channels all things New Orleans for a fresh take on cajun. Just around the corner is Mighty Mighty and, yes dear reader, it, too, has an American theme.

AS First Bite readers learned weeks ago, Melbourne chef and dessert queen Philippa Sibley is teaming with local cafe impresario Jason Jones for a new project involving ticketed dining, to launch in Melbourne's CBD in February. Prix Fixe is the name. As it turns out, former manager at Albert Street restaurant Ruth Giffney is also on board. Menus will change monthly; tickets, we're told, are to be purchased "no less than two months in advance". Have a look at prixfixe.com.au

Source: The Australian, 10 December 2013