Simon Kardachi to open Oggi on Pirie Street, Adelaide

Next door to Abbots & Kinney (see below) will be the next big restaurant project for entrepreneur Simon Kardachi (Press, Melt, Bread & Bone, Maybe Mae, Proof). Oggi — “new” in Italian — will have “seven partners and not one with a drop of Italian blood among us”, says Kardachi, who is building to plans by local architects Dave Bickmore and Graham Charbonneau of Studio Gram, responsible for Africola and several other quirky food projects in collaboration with Africola’s James Brown(The Happy Motel). Oggi will be a pasta bar, serving a lot more than house-made pasta, Kardachi says. “It will be very communal, family style with a large wood-burning roasting oven for large-format slow roasting of meats. It will be an extension of Press, I guess, but more slanted towards wet and slurp dishes.” Heading up the kitchen will be Mimi Rivers; her position as head chef at Press has been filled by understudy Will Doak. They expect Oggi to be open by the end of July. Two doors down, Chicken & Pig, an Italian-style paninoteca, will be opened by the team behind Mozzarella e Pizza Bar. According to partner Tom Bubner, whole chickens and porchetta will be the mainstays of the offer. Open by August.

Just opened in the same Pirie Street building is Abbots & Kinney, home to the simply amazing pastries of self-taught patissier Jonny Pisanelli. Taking its name from two streets at Venice Beach, California, it’s a cafe, not a restaurant, but Pisanelli has a wholly justified following in his hometown; he wholesales to a number of tres cool coffee houses but this is his first permanent home. As well as the best almond croissants in Australia, Pisanelli — being of Neapolitan stock — also makes sfogliatelle, the signature pastry of Naples, once a week (it’s not easy). Make this place a must-visit.

Yarra Valley luxury retreat and restaurant Chateau Yering has a new head chef; after eight years at the helm, Matthew Macartney has resigned to “pursue a venture of my own design which I have been chomping at the bit to do for a while now”. His successor is Macartney’s sous chef, Andrew Forster. “I have enjoyed the experience and have been fortunate enough to have talented chefs pass through my kitchen … I will be opening a new venue in August in the leafy suburbs of Melbourne’s inner east. That’s all I can say, for now.” Forster has been at Chateau Yering nearly three years; his previous experience includes The Graham, Magic City and Studley Park Boat House, all in Melbourne.

In regional Victoria, two notable restaurants have begun new phases. In Castlemaine, Hayden Winch’s Public Inn reopened on Queen’s Birthday weekend, after moving from its former premises. An old fire station — next door to Winch’s Public Inn — has been restored and transformed as a light, airy modern dining space. It looks the biz. In nearby Hepburn Springs, The Argus restaurant, at the Peppers Mineral Springs Hotel, has had some minor aesthetic changes to the dining room that see the “pass” open to a kitchen on display. The real benefit to diners, however, is that chef David Wilcox now has a separate, brand new restaurant kitchen and no longer shares the space with functions and room service.

A newish restaurant on the outskirts of Canberra adds a welcome string to the local dining bow. Pialligo Estate’s Farmhouse sees chef Brendan Walsh in charge of a menu that attempts to source as much fresh produce as possible from the Estate’s own 80ha grounds. Walsh has some fine, classical credentials behind him at London’s Pied a Terre, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester and Melbourne’s Vue de Monde. Executive chef at the Estate is local food identity Jan Gundlach.

Last chance to eat from a Julien Royer kitchen until October comes this week when the French star finishes at JAAN, at the Swissotel in Singapore. As suggested here a month ago, Royer is off to set up his own place with backing from local hospitality group Lo & Behold. “It’s in a very special location, the newly refurbished National Art Gallery,” Royer said. It’s all right next door to the Swissotel. Elsewhere in the island state, Gordon Ramsay is about to open at Marina Bay Sands, while on the top floor, Ku De Ta has rebranded as Ce La Vi following the brand’s acquisition by a private equity division of luxury brands corporate LVMH in January last year.

Source: The Australian, John Lethlean, June 16^th 2015