Last order called at Brisbane yum cha joint Suncrop

A sad day for yum cha lovers with an “all you can eat” Fortitude Valley nosh house closing its doors and liquidators moving in.

Fortitude Valley restaurant Suncrop has closed its doors.

LAST SUPPER

A sad day for yum cha lovers with “all you can eat” Fortitude Valley nosh house Suncrop closing its doors and liquidators moving in.

Mitchell Herrett, the principal at RSM’s restructuring and recovery division, is now seeking a new tenant for the huge space previously occupied by Suncrop in Wickham St.

Herrett tells us various amounts are owed by Suncrop to the tax office, landlord and suppliers. Your columnist was a frequent diner at Suncrop and readers will remember its rather eclectic instructions and directives to diners.

There was a sign warning diners not to waste food and “if a guest wastes more than a potion (sic) of food, we may charge it as a la carte menu price.” It also was the restaurant that stipulated a height restriction to qualify for the children’s discount. Children under 140cm paid $10 for the all-you-can-eat lunch while kiddies over that height had to pay the full price of $22.80. And who can forget its “sauce policy” where extra dishes of chilli sauce cost an extra dollar. One hopes these quirks weren’t responsible for the eatery’s demise.

CROW FLIES

STU Crow, a former stockbroking buddy of Paul “Porky” Morgan, is hot on the lithium exploration trail. Crow, who in a former life was a London-based banker for Merrill Lynch, now chairs ASX-listed Lake Resources, which has several exploration sites in Argentina’s “lithium triangle.” Crow tells your diarist that one of the sites is slap bang next to Brisbane-based lithium miner Orocobre’s production facility. He says Lake Resources is hoping to emulate the success of Orocobre, which is now a billion dollar company with a joint venture with Toyota Tsusho.

Crow says demand for lithium, which is used in electric car batteries, is set to surge in the coming years as governments around the world phase out petrol and diesel driven cars. “I liken lithium to coal seam gas because it is a disruptive process but whereas coal seam gas was a local development in Queensland, electric vehicles are a global phenomenon,” says Crow, who now lives in northern New South Wales. He point to the fact that there are plans for 30 megafactories around the world to pump out an increasing number of lithium batteries.

GONG SURPRISE

WE hear a few eyebrows were raised after local brokerage Morgans this week won the Australasian Investor Relation Association’s Best Retail Broker for the fourth year running.

Morgans, founded by the late Paul “Porky” Morgan, has been under fire this year for alleged hometown boosterism towards Jamie “Working Class Man” Pherous’ Corporate Travel Management, which is under fire from short sellers VGI Partners.

Morgans was the underwriter of CTM’s initial public offering in 2010 and has been a bullish supporter of its prospects since then. The only problem is that CTM’s shares are down 31 per cent from a high of $33.45 reached in September.

Morgans’ equally upbeat view on Blue Sky Alternative Investments, also has annoyed investors given they helped Blue Sky raise $125 million to boost the company’s balance sheet. Blue Sky shares are now a massive 92 per cent this year. Morgans has defended its position, noting its research team is governed by strict industry guidelines.

TOUGH TIMES

THINGS were looking pretty grim for Brisbane tech guru Bevan Slattery a decade ago. Slattery in a LinkedIn post yesterday revealed that it was 10 years to the day when it “nearly came crashing down” for his Pipe Networks company during the global financial crisis. The bank financing his submarine cable walked away from $100 million in funds for the project and it looked like it could be wound up. He lost 12 kilograms in a month and suffered chest pains. “The clouds were never so dark,” says Slattery.

STEAKING A CLAIM

IS there some sort of unintended sexism involved at those business lunches where alternate meals are served? A City Beat colleague tells us women usually end up with the fish dish at these functions and the men next to them are given the beef. Her theory was confirmed the other day at a lunch when fish was invariably plonked down in front of her and the two blokes sitting next to her were given the beef. If the alternate drop system was strictly being followed one of these men should have been given the fish.