Sydney has been a revolving door for collaborative pop-up restaurants lately. There was Belle’s Nashville-style chicken wings at Bondi Beach, and the coming together of pizza and Grace Jones (at last!) at the Italo Disco Club at Carriageworks.
Enter the newest alliance, merging the strengths of former Momofuku sommelier Richard Hargreave, 121BC’s Giorgio De Maria, Luke Burgess of the dearly missed Garagistes, and Quay former head chef Analiese Gregory.
“Luke and I were sitting around enjoying our unemployment when we said we should do something together,” Hargreave says. “We roped in Analiese and Giorgio and decided to give ourselves something to do.”
That something is a travelling Sunday dinner series, housed in a few of the team’s favourite Sydney eateries, kicking offon2 August. Each dinner will have a different theme, beginning with Rice&Greens, otherwise known as sake and vegetables,at Café Paci in East Sydney. Matt Young of Black Market Sake will handle the rice-booze duties, while Franklin‘s David Moyle is rumoured to be the secret weapon in the kitchen.
In the second instalment, on 16 August, Burgess will return to the 10 William Street kitchen for the second time this year (he stepped behind the burners for an evening last month) for The Italian Job – an all-Italo affair with help from the rest of the crew and former Berta chef O Tama Carey.
The final event is Role Reversal at Acme on 6 September, where chefs Burgess and Gregorywillcontrol the pours, while somms Hargreave and De Maria man the pans. The party continues with cocktails by Luke Ashton of This Must Be The Place.
Get in while the getting’s good.
Tickets are $150 from the Funemployment website. 2 August, Rice & Greens, Café Paci, 95 Riley St, East Sydney, NSW, (02) 9368 7000; 16 August, The Italian Job, 10 William Street, 10 William St, Paddington, NSW, (02) 9360 3310; 6 September, Role Reversal, Acme, 60 Bayswater Rd, Rushcutters Bay, NSW, (02) 8068 0932
