40 DEPARTURES TRAVEL
40 DEPARTURES TRAVEL OUT & ABOUT Sydney Hits Its Stride The harbour city emerges from its pandemic turndown pulsing with a new energy. by Ute Junker Celebrity chef Kylie Kwong at her new Lucky Kwong diner THERE’S A BUZZ on the streets as Sydney shakes off its difficult summer. Restaurants, bars and galleries are all seeing an uptick in business. “We need to connect faceto-face, and the conduit to that is food and drink – whether you are catching up for coffee, or celebrating birthday drinks, or taking your parents out for dinner,” says Justin Newton, the general manager of Hinchcliff House, one of Sydney’s newest dining venues. He’s not the only one sensing the change. “We need to get out and get life moving again,” says Bruce Ryde, general manager of the new Kimpton Margot Sydney, one of the many new businesses that recently flung open its doors. “People are willing the city back to life, and it’s really exciting to be part of that.” Here is a snapshot of the most noteworthy happenings around town. Old Chefs, New Tricks When Neil Perry opened Margaret (margaretdoublebay.com) bang in the ALAN BENSON
FROM TOP: ANDREW J LOITERTON, ANNA KUCERA, PETRINA TINSLAY Right: the lavish Celebrity suite at the Kimpton Margot Sydney hotel; below right: a detail from artist Elisa Jane Carmichael’s a search for meaning is to absorb the abundance of beauty in nature at the MCA’s Primavera show in 2021; below left: Paspaley pearlmeat sashimi with white-soy ponzu at Margaret middle of lockdown, he and his team made do with dishing out takeaway burgers to long lines of locals. Postlockdown, Margaret has emerged as an any-occasion restaurant where you can settle in for a lobster with sambal or snack on fried chicken wings with kombu butter at the bar. Also keeping it casual is Kylie Kwong. The ex-Billy Kwong chef has opened Lucky Kwong (luckykwong. com.au) in South Eveleigh, a lunchonly fast casual diner serving her flavour-forward Cantonese food made with indigenous ingredients. Seafood guru Josh Niland’s new fish-and-chip shop, Charcoal Fish (charcoalfish.com), showcases his signature nose-to-tail approach. The Rose Bay diner serves sustainably farmed Aquna Murray cod from Griffith in a variety of ways – on the barbecue, on the rotisserie and in the fryer – with sides including charcoal veggies and salty skin-on chips. Other much-loved chefs trying something new include Alpha’s Peter Conistis, who has opened the south Aegean-focused Ploos (ploos.com.au) in an old sandstone storehouse at Campbell Cove. Over at Barangaroo, Ormeggio’s Alessandro Pavoni delivers a touch of theatre at his seafood-focused a’Mare (crownsydney. com.au), complete with a gelato trolley and staffers who make pesto at your table, wielding a giant marble mortar and olive-wood pestle. After racking up plaudits at Pt Leo Estate on the Mornington Peninsula, chef Phil Wood has headed back to the harbour city to launch Ursula’s (ursulas.com.au) on the sun-drenched Paddington corner site that once housed Guillaume, while down at Woolloomooloo wharf, the Percuoco dynasty rolls on with Mario Percuoco – son of Buon Ricardo’s Armando – at the pans of Il Pontile (ilpontile.com.au). Art Appreciation With more than 330 artworks and 400 events, there is nothing small about this year’s Biennale of Sydney (biennaleofysydney.art). Until 13 June, works exploring humanity’s DEPARTURES 41
