David Tsirekas’s restaurant 1821 marks Greek war of independence

David Tsirekas’ world collapsed when his previous restuarant went bust. Will this new Greek joint be his redemption?

David Tsirekas.

For Sydney chef David Tsirekas, one of the city’s — if not the country’s — finest exponents of contemporary Greek food, the imminent launch of 1821 is much more than another restaurant opening.

“For me,” says Tsirekas “this is a second chance.” Tsirekas spent 17 years at the acclaimed Perama, Petersham. But it took just three years at Xanthi, at Westfield Sydney, to undo the chef’s personal finances and personal life. Not his reputation as a chef, however. Now, working for hotelier and nascent restaurateur Jim Kospetas, Tsirekas is achingly close to opening a modern CBD restaurant celebrating Hellenic philotimo, an apparently untranslatable word that comes from the Greek root “filos”, meaning friend, and “timi”, meaning honour. The Greek War of Independence began in 1821. “We really hope to unite people who have an affinity with Greek culture,” says Tsirekas, “whether Greek or not.” Hence, a subterranean Russian vodka bar: seeds of the 1821 uprising against the Ottomans were sewn by the organisation Philiki Etaireia, founded in 1814 by expat Greeks in Odessa. The restaurant, in a stunning heritage building on Pitt Street hitherto known as Vault Hotel, has been designed and constructed in Athens by specialist hospitality architect Dimitris Economou. Most of the internal fitout arrives in a container next week; they hope to be serving avgotaraho (Greek bottarga) and manti (a Greek semolina pasta parcel filled with bug meat or foie gras, similar to ravioli) by the middle of next month.

Melbourne: With QT set to launch its food-centric hotel brand in Russell Street later this year, the company has appointed chef Paul Easson to the role of executive chef for the restaurant. Easson has been the founding head chef at the hotel’s spirited Gowings Bar & Grill in central Sydney; before that he was Neil Perry’s head chef at Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne. Along with Easson, restaurant manager Marie Gallien will also move to Melbourne. Globetrotting chef and ideas man Robert Marchetti will again be the restaurant’s culinary “creative director”.

Sydney: Noma closed at Barangaroo on Saturday night as the most internationally talked about pop-up — ever. Rene Redzepi and his team head back to Copenhagen and a renovated restaurant. The joint venture with Tourism Australia, and its astonishing success, was undoubtedly a major factor to Sydney being chosen — as First Bite exclusively told you last month — as the host city for the 2017 World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards. Redzepi says he never started with the intention of pushing the conversation around Australian cuisine, but that is what has inevitably happened. “I would just like more people to understand more about Australia and be more curious about this place,” the chef told journalist Ryan King of Fine Dining Lovers, S. Pellegrino’s sophisticated content marketing journal. “You need to incorporate the knowledge from the original people, from the original land,” the chef said. “There’s so much incredible and excited flavour.” Read the full story at finedininglovers.com

Hobart:David Moyle is this week’s winner of the First Bite Outstanding International Media Op award — or FBOIMO — for his double page spread in Monocle’s “Australia Special” March issue. While many Aussie chefs, restaurants, bars and cafes are mentioned in the 224-page issue (including numerous advertorial spreads), Moyle, of Franklin renown, takes up a serious slab of editorial real estate with an interview, two recipes and a veritable gallery of pictures in the London-based, globally focused mag.

Melbourne: Chef/restaurateur Joe Vargetto is close to opening restaurant No 2 after plans to be involved with a place in Ivanhoe last year — Pigro — fell flat. Vargetto has leased the Little Collins Street site known to some as Benito’s and will open Massi (Vechia Osteria e Caffe) early next month. The owner of Mister Bianco is now interviewing for a head chef. “Fingers crossed for May 1,” he says.

Adelaide: The city’s smartest rooftop restaurant and bar, 2KW, has a new head chef after the departure of Nick Finn, who has moved to the US. Dan Lawrence stepped up to the role from the position of sous chef; Lawrence has been at the restaurant since its launch just over a year ago.

Declaration: the author’s wife now works in market research for QT’s parent company, ALH, as a freelance contractor.