Walsh Bay Peruvian restaurant Lima Bay closes six months after opening, as a host of other venues fold
The cost of living crisis has hit Sydney’s restaurants with many businesses closing their doors for good. Read the list of top notch restaurants who have been caught in a cost of living crunch.
Confidential
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Sydney’s restaurant scene is feeling the sting of rising interest rates and a cost of living crisis with a host of restaurants shutting their doors.
Despite positive feedback from customers, after just six months Walsh Bay’s Peruvian restaurant Lima has closed.
The restaurant, the sister restaurant to Surry Hills Warike, opened in July as Folklore and then changed its name to Lima.
The restaurant was groundbreaking, as it was the first of its kind in Sydney to lean into the Chinese and Japanese influence in Peruvian food called Chifa and Nikkei.
Owner Luis Guzman said he tried everything to keep the venue open, but being such a large venue, it became too expensive to run.
“Our continuously increasing operational costs just didn’t make it feasible for us to remain open,” a statement on social media said.
“It is hard times for everyone out there, so if you have a favourite venue, try within your means to support them.”
Despite the closure, Guzman, a former Operations Manager who moved to Sydney in 2010 and started cooking dishes from his homeland and sharing on social media during Covid, is opening another venue imminently.
Lima Bar & Cevicheria will be a small venue in Bondi with the focus on cevicheria style seafood restaurant.
The beachside restaurant will have a soft launch this week, and will complete Warike.
While Guzman has been able to pivot, a lot of another restaurant owners have pulled the plug entirely.
Italian restaurant Andiamo Trattoria also closed it’s Abbotsford branch at the start of January, telling customers that “after long and intense negotiations with our landlord, we couldn’t come to a suitable compromise.”
All you can eat Japanese restaurant Okami, which was made popular by Tiktok, will no longer run six venues after they went into administration. The venues affected are in Cronulla, Camden, Marrickville, Pennant Hills, Penrith and Sutherland.
The company was blaming the impact of Covid, plus inflationary pressure on cost and decline in sales and rising operational costs for the closure.
Sydney pasta restaurant, A tavola, which traded for 15 years, has collapsed into liquidation at the end of last year.
The other affected businesses are Flour Eggs Water Surry Hills and meatball restaurant Palle, which both traded out of Sydney’s Tramsheds development, along with home delivery business, A tavola at Home.
CULINARY TOUR DE FRANCE
Sydney’s love affair with all things French shows no signs of slowing.
In the past twelve months the harbour city saw a host of French bistros open, with the introduction of Rozelle’s Chez Blue, The Strand’s Darlinghurst Strand Bistrotheque, Surry Hill’s Armorica and North Sydney’s Charlotte Bar and Bistro adding to the already popular cuisine.
So it’s no surprise that a music and food festival celebrating all things French is also grown in size.
The So Frenchy, So Chic Festival has operated in Sydney and Melbourne for 12 years, but this year’s Sydney event festival is tipped to be the largest, with organisers moving from Glebe’s Bicentennial Park to Centennial Park to fit in more revellers.
“We have found that there are many Francophiles in Australia that have responded extremely well to SFSC over the years. Our goal is to bring the best experience of France without the cliche. You can expect great food, fashion, culture and most importantly, great live music from the best of the French music scene,” said Creative Director, Jean-Francois Ponthieux.
Esteemed French restaurants in Sydney, like Milson’s Points Loulou and Quay Quarter’s Bouillon L’Entrecote are also taking part in the festival.
Johan Giausseran, the owner of Bouillon L’Entrecote (who also opened a pintxos bar, Deus Freres, last year inspired by the Basque regions of France and Spain) said it was an “easy” decision to get involved with So Frenchy, So Chic.
“We tried it last for Bastille festival and because of its success we decided to also do the French Jolly Market at Christmas. Then I got in touch Jean Francois and I proposed him our concept for his market,” said Giausseran.
The restaurant serve up its signature dish at the festival: sirloin steak with our homemade French fries and secret sauce, but this time served in a baguette.
This year the festival will add new experiences such as wine masterclasses, ceramic workshops, flower crown making, French language initiation lessons and a grand petanque tournament available to all ticket holders on a first come, first serve basis.
POP UP SEAFOOD, ICONIC VIEWS
A seafood restaurant, doing takeaway fish and chips, with the best views of the harbour, has popped back up in Sydney.
The Harbour is a fish and chip eatery that has opened for just four weeks at the Opera House.
It is in the same location where the original seafood restaurant did good business in the late 1980s.
The venue pays homage to the original restaurant – as does the menu. Think grilled prawns, fish burgers and, of course, fish and chips.
“We’re thrilled to be bringing back a crowd favourite this summer,” said Sydney Opera House chief customer officer Jade McKellar.
“Last year, The Harbour welcomed 6000 locals, visitors, theatregoers and families in January – all getting among Sydney’s vibrant summer atmosphere, while reminiscing about the history of what this space once was. With great food, an even better view and some incredible shows on offer, the Opera House is the perfect spot to enjoy summer.”
Open till February 3, The Harbour is located at the Yallamundi Rooms. Bookings are strongly recommended, with limited space reserved for walk-ins.
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