Overview
Last month, we announced the bittersweet news that Potts Point's two-hatted Gastro Park is set to close its doors and and will be replaced with a new venture by the restaurant's executive chef and owner Grant King. Now, King has given us an inside look into his next project — just one week after Gastro Park closes on May 20, Antipodean Restaurant and Bar will take its place.
As the name suggests, the restaurant will focus on all things Australian and New Zealand, using produce from local artisans, farmers, wineries, breweries and distilleries (to name a few), in an effort to truly bring it all back home. "I've been at Gastro Park six years and I thought it was time to get away gastronomy," says King. "When people hear 'gastro', they expect everything to be 'chef-ified' and I want to make Antipodean just more simple."
The native New Zealander is committed to making 99 percent of the restaurant antipodean, right down to the dishes and water glasses, which will come from Byron-based Made of Australia. "I'm going out of my way to find small producers, which sounds cliche — but everyone says this and doesn't really go for it," says King. He has even been able to find a producer making aged vinegar, as well as one in South Australia who makes Spanish-style ham.
The restaurant will take on a more casual vibe and be revamped as an accessible, neighbourhood restaurant. The expensive tasting menu will be replaced with simpler share plates with only two or three items per dish. King reckons the price point will be halved to $60-80 per person as oppose to the $140-170 of the Gastro Park tasting menus. "Everything will still be handmade and delicious, but there will be much less of a focus on 'designed' dishes."
He's currently working with 100 dishes in mind, which will be paired down to around a 25-dish menu that will be completely dictated by the ingredients available — think New Zealand flounder, baked whole with preserved orange, or mussels from South Australia. The fit-out will also be altered to feel more intimate and casual, creating alcoves, wall divides and indoor trees to add more warmth and separation to the existing open space.
"I want the venue to show that we're proud of our local produce and that it isn't inferior to the rest of the world," says King.
Antipodean Restaurant and Bar will open at 5-9 Roslyn Street, Potts Point at the end of May. It will be open seven nights a week for dinner from 5pm, as well as lunch on Fridays and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am. For more information and an opening date, keep checking back here or visit antipodeanrestaurantandbar.com.
Image: Kimberley Low.