High-profile Sydney chef Mitch Orr has taken the reins of St Kilda institution Prince Dining Room, which is seeking to reclaim some of its glory from yesteryear, when the likes of Andrew McConnell and Michael Lambie led its fine-diner Circa.

“Mitch’s style of cooking has that little bit of edge and grit to it, but also finesse and I think that suits St Kilda,” says Andrew Ryan, the venue’s executive director.

Orr, recruited as food and creative director, has hired Pipis Kiosk head chef Ben Parkinson, with a plan that Orr will visit “once a month minimum” from Sydney, where he also oversees the hatted Kiln.

The former Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year winner previously ran his own restaurant in Sydney, Acme, and has worked at Maurice Terzini venues plus Porteno and Sepia.

He wants to inject more energy into Prince Dining Room via events and collaborations, including pizza parties with dough pros from Sydney, such as Westwood’s Mitch Westwood.

“We’re just changing a couple of little things in the kitchen… It’s more about changing the vibe. Livening up the bar and doing something a little bit different from what’s probably been done there before.”

Prince Dining Room has undergone two overhauls since the Ryan family took over the restaurant and attached pub and music venue, The Prince, in 2017. Its second reboot earned the restaurant a Good Food hat last year, but chef Daniel Cooper’s move to Chiswick in Sydney last spring paved the way for further changes.

Seafood and vegetables will dominate the new menu, making the most of Parkinson’s experience at Pipis. Orr and Parkinson are excited by the wood-fire oven and grill, both of which they’ve worked with previously. They’ll roast whole fish and produce from Ramarro Farm and Dog Creek Growers, as well as gently smoking things.

Will we see a St Kilda version of Orr’s signature, jazzed-up Jatz crackers?

“Maybe just in the bar [area]. We’re having a little play around with how we might do that,” Orr says.

Orr has stepped into more of an advisory role at Kiln, which won best new restaurant at The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide awards in 2022, giving him more time for consulting gigs like this one.

Asked how it feels to be working across the street from fellow culinary director Karen Martini at newly hatted Saint George, Orr says:

“I mean, it’s an honour. She’s kind of a living legend… It’s going to be amazing to be a part of that community.”

The restaurant reopens on April 27, nearly 20 years to the day since Andrew McConnell’s first service at Circa. Coincidence? Probably not.

2 Acland Street, St Kilda, theprince.com.au/prince-dining-room