Since closing three-hat fine-diner Marque nearly 10 years ago, one of Australia’s most celebrated chefs has unexpectedly announced he’ll soon take over the iconic CBD venue.
Nine years after Mark Best closed Marque restaurant in Surry Hills, the chef will mark his Sydney return with a high-wire act: rewriting the script on revolving restaurants. Infinity by Mark Best will take its first spin atop Sydney Tower on Tuesday, August 12.
One of the country’s most celebrated chefs, Best said he was keen to challenge preconceptions about high-altitude dining. “There’s the old maxim, ‘The higher you are, the worse the food’,” he said. “I’d never thought about [Sydney Tower] as a location, but the more I did, the more it excited me.”
Best is enthusiastic about the new digs, which are 81 floors above the Sydney CBD. “You’re the first to see sunrise and the last to see sunset,” he said. “When people come into the city they want to get to the highest point.”
Infinity by Mark Best won’t be like the fine-dining Marque, or his one-time spin-off, Pei Modern. “It’s something completely different,” he said. Best is already test-driving dishes for the menu, with steamed bar cod with fish milk and fermented, fried kipfler potatoes, scallops with sea foam and sea urchin crumpets all appearing on the opening menu.
There’ll be 10 entrees, 10 mains, desserts and a tasting menu option. Best said main courses will sit in the $50-$60 range.
Infinity currently attracts an even split of tourists and locals, with Best keen to lure more of both groups with his contemporary Australian cuisine. The 90-seat venue has undergone a minimalist refurbishment of navy, charcoals and warm browns designed to maximise the view.
Best sought some inspiration from Dietmar Sawyere’s Forty One restaurant in the 𝄒90s and noughties, which didn’t spin but delivered penthouse-level glamour and high dining standards. And there’s Sydney’s long history with revolving restaurants.
Restaurateur Oliver Shaul was the first to get the motor running and the dining room spinning with his 1968 launch at The Summit restaurant, atop of Harry Seidler-designed Australia Square. Mount Everest slayer Sir Edmund Hillary made the ascent for opening night, as did the then-soon-to-be prime minister Sir William McMahon. A generation of Sydneysiders were soon singing along with the See You at the Summit jingle on the telly.
Food with Sydney vistas was such a success that a throwaway quote from Shaul that he could buy a Mercedes car every year from the sale of garlic bread became part of Sydney folklore. Shaul claimed he was trying to make a point about garlic bread, but the quote stuck.
So did Sydneysiders’ appetite for dining up high. If ever there was a city with the geography for it, Sydney was it; a 360-degree rotation that swept harbour, sea and mountains was hard to beat. Sydney Tower, where Best will open next month, followed in 1981. Sydney’s west also got in on the revolving restaurant action, with the 1994 launch of Hi-Lights (later Cucina Locale) at Blacktown Workers Club. Hi-Lights was unlikely to give you altitude sickness, however, being located on the fifth floor.
Best had built an impressive legacy by the time he closed Marque in 2016: for 10 consecutive years it achieved three chefs’ hats and was named restaurant of the year in 2011. He describes the consultancy work he’s done since Marque closed – with cruise ships and hotels in Melbourne and Brisbane – as different to the deal he’s struck with hospitality giant Trippas White Group. “It’s a partnership,” Best said. And the partnership is a minimum of five years.
Best said the experience he gained operating out of challenging spaces such as cruise ships is useful in an environment like Sydney Tower, where everything and everyone arrives by lift. His history and network has also allowed lured talent, including sommelier Polly Mackarel.
Trippas White has given Best free rein over produce and menu. He was given only one instruction: “Be bold and make a profit”. The rest of the package is already in place, with the restaurant and bar given a $12 million redesign only a few years ago. The space will have a few soft touch changes before Best puts his name to the restaurant next month.
The timing for revolving restaurants, both in Australia and overseas, is seemingly on the upswing. Chef Michael Moore brought his pedigree to O Bar and Dining, where The Summit previously traded at Australia Square, and New York restaurateur Danny Meyer recently added revolving restaurant The View to his portfolio.
The New York Times gave the born-again 1980s spinner a good review. Best particularly liked this line from the piece: “Early on, revolving restaurants offered a sci-fi glimpse of the future; now they’re a comforting retreat to the past. (The future is here, and we don’t like it.)”
As Best ponders the majesty of Sydney from his new workplace, he’s been working on a new motto: “Come for the view and stay for the hospitality.” Even he is in awe of the vista. “Yes, I can see my house,” he said.
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