A new wave of restaurants is giving a fresh lease of life to the former homes of shuttered big-name fine-diners, including Izy.Aki in Paddington.
When Izy.Aki restaurant opens next month in the former home of Paddington’s award-winning Saint Peter, the Oxford Street newcomer will be the latest addition in an unexpected uptick in hand-me-down restaurant sites.
An unprecedented year of big-name restaurant closures and relocations was tipped to leave a trail of empty buildings and “for lease” signs as high interest rates left the dining economy gasping for breath. But many high-profile sites have found new operators ready to take the plunge.
When the Botswana Butchery restaurant chain imploded in April, its multi-level site at Martin Place didn’t sit idle for long. Next month, the crew behind Shell House will reboot it as The International after a major redesign. And chef Alessandro Pavoni opened Postino Osteria in the long-time home of One Penny Red, in Summer Hill.
Izakaya Tempura Kuon didn’t cut it on Wynyard Lane but new Italian venue Scala Lane is already lined up to open in its place. Redfern’s hatted Redbird was one of the year’s big casualties, while Middle Eastern restaurant Mezepotamia was due to open in the Redfern Street site on Saturday, October 26.
Izy.Aki owner-chef Darren Templeman says he walked past Saint Peter’s Oxford Street site shortly after the hatted restaurant relocated around the corner to the Grand National Hotel. “I gave [owner Josh Niland] a call, he was pleased because he was mid-lease.”
Templeman, who previously owned Restaurant Atelier in Glebe, leaned in on Japanese food after moving to Asia and working for two-Michelin-starred chef Yoshihiro Narisawa. He road-tested Izy.Aki – where 10 courses will cost $195 ($105 for five) and the menu can sweep from wagyu to hen’s egg with smoked eel or foie gras and cheesecake souffle – as a pop-up in The Rocks.
The new location is similar in size to the pop-up, so Templeman can tweak the new Oxford Street site without the expense of a complete redesign.
China Diner Bondi is another restaurant on the move, having recently relocated from Hall Street to the former Campbell Street site of the short-lived Lola’s Italian & Bar, which shut in July.
The onetime Izgara restaurant site on Bayswater Road in Kings Cross is another born-again as a hospitality venue, opening earlier this year with new owners and piano bar concept, The Hook.
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Scott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.
