Aisbett returns the Quay and heads off

It’s a time of flux at Quay. Head chef Sam Aisbett finished at Australia’s most famous restaurant Friday and heads to Singapore today to join an increasing throng of Australian talent in the city state.

Chris Lucas is taking Chin Chin to Sydney. RIGHT: Peter Gilmore and Rob Cockerill at the Opera House. Source: Supplied

Aisbett was head chef to Peter Gilmore, the celebrated executive chef of Quay, for nearly three years. No decision yet on a successor. Aisbett has been backed into his own venture by a Malaysian businessman. “It’s a fitout from scratch in premises near Raffles,” says the chef. “It’s the dream, but it’s also a bit scary.” While he has no name for the restaurant, he plans to do high-end food “in a fun, relaxed manner … I don’t want all the stiffness, I want people to have fun, and I want to have fun too.”

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Meantime Gilmore has appointed his senior sous chef — the appropriately named Rob Cockerill — to run the much-anticipated Bennelong restaurant at Sydney Opera House. It is Cockerill’s first head chef role after seven years at Quay. The restaurant opens in July and will, we are assured, make no attempt to usurp the mothership across the water at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. “We are deliberately not aiming too high, we are definitely not aiming for a three hat restaurant,” Gilmore said during a tour of the iconic site last week. “Bennelong will be all about the produce and nearly everything will be Australian,” including the wine he says. “It will not be as technical as Quay.” The new restaurant will effectively have two tiers of food. “Cured and cultured” will be a menu that services several bar areas over two levels, including a previously under-utilised mezzanine level; it will, as the name suggests, consist of raw and cured meats and seafood, salads and fermented vegetables. The dining room will be serviced by an a la carte menu of seven starters, seven mains and five desserts, but may well be a fixed price offering. Some creative lighting solutions — including ever-changing uplighting of the sail’s “ribs” will compensate for the tight heritage regulations on modifications to the cathedral-like structure. The kitchen, however, is brand new and includes six seats with a view across the water (to Quay, ironically, and the Harbour Bridge). Degustation menu only, they will surely be among the hottest tickets in town.

Source : The Australian   John Leathlen    May 12th 2015