Overview
Parramatta has scored an epic new dining hub. We would say restaurant, but the term is inadequate. This long-anticipated culinary empire comes with two levels, indoor-outdoor seating for 150, a bar, a bakery and an onsite coffee roastery. In fact, a cheeky $4 million have been poured into its creation.
The Emporium made a sneaky opening on Monday, April 6. And even though it’s yet to officially launch (that’ll be happening on May 21) and hasn’t hit the press in a major way, it’s been nonetheless attracting ravenous locals in their hundreds.
Head chef Robert Cannon (formerly of Pony Lounge and Dining in The Rocks) has created a contemporary Australian menu, with flashes of Mediterranean tastiness. Right now, the dishes are limited to nine, with a more extensive menu to be launched at the end of April. Meanwhile, the coffee roaster is a 25 kilogram beast, which has been imported from Germany, and can take care of 600 kilograms of beans per day.
There’s been no scrimping on the interior, either. Handcrafted marble tables have been imported from Venice, brickwork has been exposed, fresh flowers have been arranged.
“We've got a lot of plans, we've got a lot going on,” Domenic Borel (ex-Gazebo and The Local Taphouse, now Emporium's general manager) told Good Food. “We'll be taking over the whole building by the end of the year and we'll have private wine rooms upstairs. We've got an application in for a sky bar — a champagne and oyster bar on the roof. And we've also made an offer on another restaurant quite close by. We're going to do a high-end fish restaurant."
The Emporium, located at 51 Phillip Street, Parramatta, is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with food served until 11.30pm.
Via Good Food.