Archive for March, 2012

What’s a restaurant without a bar?

Not any restaurant Gregory or I would want to eat in that’s for sure.

We’ve always liked to belly up to the bar, sit side by side, chat to the bartender and indulge in the bar menu, which in my opinion is often way more fun than the one offered in the dining room. (Not that that will be the case in our restaurant, they will both be equally fabulous I’m sure).

So in our design brief to Ash (our fantabulous friend and designer) this was always a key feature of the space. (Luckily Ash knew just where we were coming from, as she had been sitting right next to us on many of our bar dining adventures).

It was with great joy and pleasure that Gregory and his merry men demolished the bizarre tiki hut complete with thatched roof and fence post sides the second we took over the space. And then they got busy building the new one… It’s really hard to capture just how magnificently outrageous the bar used to be.

You know your builder means business when the sparks start flying. That’s the bar off to the left and my domain (the host stand) is opposite that. I’m not stupid people, it’s deliberately designed to allow for easy access to a glass of red on a rough night.

Day off today.

Gregory took advantage of the extra hour to recover from last night’s compulsory excursion to the Rocks Pubs. He said it was essential he show Ashley our fine harbour bridge and Opera House before she left.

Yeah right.

Big week ahead people, stand by for updates.

Caption: See, you can see the outline of the hut. Awesome; That is the gas metre in the corner. It will be concealed behind a faux cupboard. So clever; That’s Gregory propping up the wall watching the builder do his thing; Look at that. A real life bar. See the special spot for water bottles. Easy access to the carbonation system.

Yes, that is a bowl of christmas pudding and ice cream.

And yes, I am eating it at 2.30 in the afternoon.

And no, I don’t care that Christmas was months ago. There is enough alcohol in this thing to kill any lingering Christmas nasties.

I have resorted to such a desperate sugar treat, because the need was so great, I couldn’t even wait the 4.5 minutes it takes to make my famous chocolate brownie.

It has been quite a week.

The sale of the restaurant only just went through about an hour ago because (including but not limited to):

• one lawyer going overseas
• one party making a claim against another
• another lawyer never being available and leaving the office by 4.30 every day
• massive, utter, complete communication breakdowns which we were powerless to fix
• people getting the wrong dates on their calendars
• one party refuting claims made against them
• chinese whispers being a really ineffective method of transmitting information
• people are nuts
• and dodgy
• and sneaky
• and mean.

In short, we were the meat between two pieces of stale, crusty, thick-cut, doughy bread and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it.

But now it is done, and we are (we think) the official owners of a restaurant.

The refit has begun (ten days late) and somehow we’re hoping to still open on the original date intended.

(I’ve been in touch with the night elves and they reckon they can work their magic over a few nights if I leave out enough magic dust).

Onward people.

What’s done is done.

We’ve got a restaurant to open.

Once upon a time there was a chef. He worked at a busy New York restaurant and one day he decided to ask the hostess out on a date. She accepted and the dates went so well they decided to get married 18 months later. A year after that, they decided to move back to her homeland, grow their own human and set up a new life in the land down under. They decided that new life would involve a restaurant.

They researched and studied, inspected, shopped around and inspected again until they were happy with the space they had chosen for their new home.

Lawyers were engaged, papers were drawn up…and then nothing happened. And the next day nothing happened. And the day after that each lawyer blamed the other lawyer for nothing happening. And the day after that, the chef and the hostess (now with their builder and designer standing by twiddling their thumbs) really needed something to happen.

That day is today folks, stand by.

Something is going to happen.