Stokehouse’s Ollie Gould heads to a distant shore

When we broke the news that Ollie Gould — Stokehouse head chef in Melbourne for the past eight years — was leaving, the likely corollary seemed an overseas jaunt. “Not so fast,” said Perth restaurateur Scott Taylor (Beaufort Street Merchant, Trustee, Enrique’s School of Bullfighting), who’s planning what he hopes will be a landmark new restaurant on the water — one of Western Australia’s very few — at Swanbourne Beach. “I’m aiming for this venue to be one of the most significant openings of 2015,” Taylor says. “Not because of the names attached to it but because of the standards we are all quietly holding each other to. Long way to go, but Shorey is off to a good start.” The Shorehouse, as the substantially rebuilt (to designs byLynette Kohler) Naked Fig will be named, has a personnel collection of Taylor’s brightest acolytes including manager Pierre Anglade, sommelier EmmaFarrelly, Trustee pastry chef Stephanie Aurient-Douce and boozemeister James Connelly. Like Gould’s Stokehouse food, The Shorehouse will be “casual fine dining” highlighting West Australian produce. “I’m really excited to get my teeth into some new ingredients … Fingers crossed it’s a running success and keeps me there a long time,” says Gould, who finishes at Stokehouse at the end of the month — with the full blessing of owner Frank van Haandel. It should open next month.

MELBOURNE: Meantime, don’t expect a two-tier Stokehouse when the St Kilda landmark reopens next year after its fire. Van Handel (see above) has flagged two distinct businesses for the site. Stokehouse will be the upper-level restaurant; downstairs will be its own thing. We endorse the decision. Stokehouse Downstairs did the brand no favours.

HOT 50: An understated master for hottest chef. A reinvigorated gem for hottest restaurant. Eating out of town for hottest service. Hottest wine program in an ethnic restaurant. Yes, if you buy just one newspaper this year, makes sure it’s The Weekend Australian this Saturday for our annual Hot 50 edition: a snapshot of what’s hot across Australia’s restaurant world, with, this year, a lot of generational churn. First entry with all four hot awards correct @JohnLethlean today wins a bottle of wine from the collection of wine guru and journalist extraordinaire Max Allen.

SYDNEY:Guillaume Brahimi will open a Bistro Guillaume in his hometown next year. He has taken a space at the corner of George and Jamison, a tower named 259 George, that houses Suncorp among others. Bistro will follow the lead of its Perth and Melbourne siblings, but this will be a sole venture, and not involve Crown. Brahimi will promote a head chef from within.

MELBOURNE: Pure South, the Southgate Melbourne restaurant that focuses on produce from Tasmania, Flinders and King islands, is on the chef hunt. Ashley Davis is moving to open his own restaurant in Seddon. Davis came to Pure South 2½ years ago with a great CV from London’s Helene Darroze at the Connaught and has made firm friends of the restaurant’s proprietors, Philip Kennedy and Peter Leary. “We are really sorry to see him go,” says Kennedy, “but he has signed a lease, it’s a done deal.” Davis says his Victoria Street restaurant will European and approachable. “It’s an empty shell, and I’m building it from scratch myself.” Davis says he won’t leave Pure South in the lurch.

MELBOURNE: Short season in ritzy South Yarra for Sandro Terzini’s Terzini Motore Caffe, which has pulled down the shutters with less than a year on the calendar. The showroom-cafe-restaurant showcased high-end second-hand Italian motoring exotica. At the weekend, the Herald Sun reported that a Melbourne man,Michael Kudelka, had launched civil legal action against Terzini regarding the sale of Kudelka’s rare Ferrari in 2013 for less than its alleged market value. A judge has refused an application to stay civil proceedings relating to the dispute; Terzini also faces criminal charges in the Victorian County Court relating to the sale of the Ferrari, the Hun reported.

Source: The Australian, John Lethlean, 18^th August 2015
Originally published as: Stokehouse’s Ollie Gould heads to a distant shore