Windsor closes for restoration but Halims retain Adam Liston and Joel Alderson

Adam Liston planning Melbourne venture, Morries reopens at Margaret River, and other gossip from our top kitchens.

Adam Liston. Picture: David Crosling

The imminent closure of CBD Melbourne’s iconic Hotel Windsor for at least three years for restoration and site redevelopment will mean the end of its grand 111 Spring Street restaurant.

But two key food talents now within owner the Halim family’s company will stay on and develop new external projects. Chef Adam Liston closed his Collingwood restaurant/bar Northern Light recently to relocate in a joint venture with the Halims. The location has not been revealed. While the Windsor’s executive chef Joel Alderson is also to pursue a restaurant outside the Spring Street site. “The company has been planning smaller projects outside the hotel that will commence once construction begins,” a spokesman told First Bite.

GOLD COAST: From the About Time files: Versace Hotel has renovated and relaunched its fine diner Vanitas with new head chef Dayan Hartill-Law (last heard of at Melbourne’s Albert Street, but with Quay and Dinner London on his CV) and sommelier Megan Cox, formerly of the Perry group of restaurants in Sydney. The Big Night Out is alive and well in Surfers.

MELBOURNE: Named for the great 19th century Italian gastronome and author Pellegrino Artusi, who penned La Scienza in Cucina e L’Arte di Mangiar Bene (The Science of Cookery and the Art of Eating Well) in 1891, the Southgate restaurant bearing his name hasn’t lasted quite as long as his famous tome. Artusi, the big Italian spin-off from the people at Tutto Bene downstairs in the same retail centre, shut last week a little short of its second birthday. Founding chef Leandro Panza had long since departed (to Sagra, in leafy Malvern) and undoubtedly inconsistency with a series of successors didn’t help. Fortunately Artusi’s sibling and Southgate stayer Tutto Bene powers on, following a major facelift last year and with Nathan Scarfo (remember the excellent Restaurant Revolution TV series?) in the role of head chef. Scarfo tells us TB has returned to its roots as a risotteria, first and foremost. Owner Tamara Volkoff didn’t return our call.

MARGARET RIVER: One of regional WA’s best-known restaurants, Morries in Margaret River, re-opens this week following a refit and a rethink that takes the restaurant even further into smart dining and late-night drinks territory. “With minor changes to the fit out and major changes to our food and drink, we’re stepping things up.” says co-proprietor Anthony Janssen. “We’re steering away from the breakfast/café trade and putting even more focus into our bar and evening offering.” The restaurant was bought by entrepreneur Janssen in 2012 and rolled into a new entity - Margaret River Hospitality Group - he formed with local chef Tony Howell and cafe operator Alex Brooks in 2014. Howe is best known for his 15 years at the prestigious Cape Lodge, at nearby Yallingup. Dishes for the re-launch menu sound exciting.

HOBART: Another recently opened option for Hobart is Smolt Kitchen on the site of West Hobart’s old Hill Street Grocer. As the name suggests, this is another from restaurateur Kif Webber and his partners at Smolt and Frank, down on the waterfront. Kitchen is essentially base for a growing outside catering business, however its 35-seat bistro is aimed at locals looking for an all-day modern cafe/community restaurant, Webber says. “Our dishes are inspired by diverse culinary influences, including those of Spain, Italy, South America, Israel and even Persia, but they also showcase the best of Tasmanian produce,” goes the spin. Early reports are good.

MELBOURNE: Veteran chef Maurice Esposito has taken over the kitchen at Flinders Lane’s Cecconi’s. Esposito got out of his own Carlton restaurant last year, subsequently working at another CBD institution, Becco. The chef earned his reputation for light Italian cooking at his own restaurant, Esposito, in Carlton, in the late 1990s before moving on to major jobs at Stokehouse, The European and Sarti. The theme, working for owners the Bortolotto family, will remain Italian across both the dining room and Cellar Bar menus. Carmine Mari remains head chef at the aforementioned Becco.

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