By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
Life comes at you fast.
A week ago, Al Yazbek was one of Australia’s hottest restaurateurs, the man behind Surry Hills favourite Nomad and Melbourne’s grand new French-inspired Reine & La Rue.
But after Yazbek’s offensive decision to hold up a sign with a swastika on an Israeli flag at a pro-Palestinian rally last weekend, the backlash was swift. He is set to face court this month over allegedly displaying a Nazi symbol. He has lost lucrative business partnerships with Goldman Sachs, champagne brand G.H. Mumm and his venues’ spot in the Good Food Guide, published by the Herald.
Nomad owner Al Yazbek in happier times.
And in just a week, Yazbek has churned through plenty of crisis communications people. On Thursday, calls to Nomad Group’s head office went unanswered. Seeking comment from Yazbek last week, we reached out to The Cru, a restaurant PR agency that handles Nomad Group’s publicity.
Reporters were then forwarded on to Sydney-based corporate communications firm Blackwattle Media, who then hand-balled on to strategic-cum-corporate affairs consultancy Wilkinson Butler, which we’re told is handling Yazbek’s media.
Restaurateur Alan Yazbek at the pro-Palestine rally in Sydney.Credit: Facebook
That firm last week told reporters it would respond to a comment request, but none came. That was until that time of Friday afternoon known unofficially in media circles as “taking out the trash hour”, when Yazbek, via his new crisis managers, put out a statement where he apologised “unequivocally” for his actions. We suspect the damage might already be done.
ROYAL FLUSH
CBD has long been keeping an eye on King Charles III’s impending visit to these shores, and with his majesty due to land in Sydney on Friday evening, the royal itinerary has sharpened into focus.
Saturday is designated as a rest day for the monarch, who cut short the trip following a cancer diagnosis earlier this year, and who is travelling Down Under accompanied by an army of doctors.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are racing enthusiasts. Credit: AP
But Saturday is also the Everest Day, the brash $20 million baby of Racing NSW head honcho Peter “Showbags” V’landys, whose long campaign to usurp Victoria’s spring racing carnival would be given an all-time boost by a royal visit to Royal Randwick.
V’landys, who met the late Queen months before her death, named a $5 million race, the King Charles Stakes, after his majesty. He has always been quietly confident about getting him to the Everest, even as Charles’ trip was shortened.
On Sunday, the King’s attendance at next week’s Everest remained unconfirmed. But Showbags is still hopeful. As we’re sure he will be ’til the very end.
HAROLD’S HOUSE
When larger than life media mogul and philanthropic sun king Harold Mitchell unexpectedly died aged 81 of complications after surgery in February, funeral guests included the Victorian premier, three former premiers, Eddie McGuire, Lindsay Fox, Jon Faine and Mick Gatto.
The media mogul’s two adult children Amanda and Stuart were the main beneficiaries of his $60 million fortune, inheriting about $40 million in assets to be put into trust.
Now they are selling the businessman and philanthropist’s incredible rural retreat in Merrijig, a one-pub town at the foot of Mount Buller near Mansfield and not too far from Stawell, the town where he grew up, the son of a sawmiller.
Anyone who knows anything of the great man and his zest for everything will not be surprised to know that the three-level timber home with soaring panelled ceilings has the feel of Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s alpine ski lair.
Particularly the big leather armchair by the open fire where Mitchell, who founded the nation’s largest media buying agency, cried as he read the final proof of his memoir Living Large, which recounts his alcoholic mum who left the family when he was 15.
The six-bedroom, four-bathroom, two-car garage property over 6505 square metres features truly spectacular gardens thick with Australian natives on the banks of the Delatite River Mitchell himself rebuilt, a guesthouse, a butler’s pantry and an old-fashioned smoko lodge, an echo of the area’s sawmill heritage.
As the District Property Group agents boast: “Heaven for fly-fishing enthusiasts or those just seeking a tranquil escape from their busy life in the city.”
Guide price? $2.95 million.
In June, the family listed Mitchell’s Spring Street apartment, with French-inspired interiors including a marble and mirrored bar that takes up the entire 11th floor and half the 10th, with views over Parliament House, Parliament Gardens and St Patrick’s Cathedral.
Regular CBD readers will recall that the apartment had a guide price drop of $1 million by August. Now it has been withdrawn from sale.