New MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo closes his Adelaide bistro

Newly anointed MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo has shut the doors of his big Adelaide restaurant Bistro Blackwood.

Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo annouced as one of MasterChef’s newwest judges has shut his big Adelaide restaurant Bistro Blackwood. Picture: supplied by Channel 10

Details are scant, but newly anointed MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo has shut the doors of his big Adelaide restaurant Bistro Blackwood.

The smarter upstairs dining room, Orana, which emphasises indigenous Australian ingredients and produce, remains open as usual.

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It’s understood staff have been laid off; the restaurant’s web site has gone down and callers to Blackwood are going straight to Orana to be told Blackwood is “closed until further notice” for renovations.

Zonfrillo, the Scottish expat who has made a career of investigating the heritage and food culture of Aboriginal communities, was named one of three new MasterChef judges in October. He is believed to be in the UK and could not be reached for comment.

In August, Zonfrillo closed Orana temporarily to recreate the restaurant for a Sydney pop-up. It led to speculation the chef planned to make the arrangement a permanent thing.

Zonfrillo’s business activities have been flux in recent times. Originally launched as Blackwood, Bistro Blackwood was relaunched and rebranded early 2017 to a strong critical response; his Italian-ish bar Malozzi, also in Rundle Street, launched in December 2018 but had shut its doors less than seven months later.