This Just In: Bathers Pavilion Announces Four-Week Residency by Award-Winning Californian Restaurant SingleThread
One of the best restaurants in the world is calling Balmoral home for four weeks this winter.
The heritage-listed, iconic Bathers' Pavilion (parked up just next to one of the best beaches in New South Wales) has announced today that it's playing host to an exclusive residency from across the Pacific later this year. From Tuesday, July 28 to Sunday, August 23, Bathers will be hosting the flavours and recipes of SingleThread — regarded as one of the best, if not the best, restaurants on the US West Coast.
Hailing from Sonoma wine country in Healdsburg, California, SingleThread is a three-star Michelin restaurant owned and operated by husband and wife duo Kyle and Katina Connaughton. Set on a 24-acres of farmland alongside greenhouses, heirloom orchards, beehives and an extensive floral program, SingleThread is defined by its surroundings.
Before establishing the restaurant, Kyle Connaughton cut his teeth in kitchens across Los Angeles, Japan and the UK alongside culinary legends like Heston Blumenthal and Michel Bras. Taking those teachings into his own project, Connaughton has cultivated a strictly guest-first ethos, believing every detail of a restaurant exists in service of the diner.
Across their four-week residency at Bathers', the SingleThread team will present a ten-course tasting menu that begins with their signature Hassun, a seasonal introductory dish inspired by Japan's traditional Kaiseki diners — up to ten individual, delicate bites that are typically harvested that very morning and presented on a bed of florals to set the tone for the courses to come.
It's set to be an intimate experience, with each sitting hosting just 80 guests for $690 per guest (the same price charged back home in Healdsburg), served across lunch and dinner service from Tuesday to Sunday during the four-week residency.
Bathers' last residency with L'Enclume in 2023 and 2025 saw waitlists climb into the thousands, and Bather's Managing Director, Jessica Shirvington, is proud to welcome such talent to Balmoral, saying, "To have the world's joint No.1 restaurant choose Balmoral for a four-week collaboration is something we are immensely proud of. We've demonstrated that we can deliver international residencies at a scale and standard not seen elsewhere in Australia."
Bathers is already preparing the goods, with Executive Chef Aaron Ward beginning to grow vegetables and botanicals at Bathers' farm in the Southern Highlands, before travelling to Sonoma in April to develop the menu alongside the SingleThread team. And since its coming from Californian wine country, expect a wine menu that pairs Californian and Australian classics — plus some surprises from the restaurant's Japanese influences in the form of world-class sake.
Kyle Connaughton spoke on the residency, saying, "SingleThread is about the dialogue between farm, kitchen and guest. Coming to Sydney allows us to explore that philosophy through Australia's extraordinary produce while maintaining the integrity of what defines us. We're excited to collaborate with Aaron Ward and the Bathers' team and create something that feels both true to Sonoma County and unique to Balmoral."
Bookings for the SingleThread residency open on Thursday, March 12, at 10am AEST via the Bathers' website or by phone (02 9969 5050). An exclusive presale will be available for Bathers' subscribers.
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