Bar One has recruited Tony Garita to provide a strong food direction for the QV1 bar as it enters its second year of trade.
Bar One has recruited Tony Garita to provide a strong food direction for the QV1 bar as it enters its second year of trade.
Bar One co-owner Steve Scaffidi, renowned chef and operator of Altos Bistro, says getting Mr Garita is a coup for Bar One.
“He is from Melbourne and has worked at some fantastic places like Walter’s Wine Bar,” Mr Scaffidi says.
“Then he came to Perth and worked at Bocca and he had a phenomenal reputation.
“He left there and has been doing his own thing for a while and was waiting for the right position.
“Tony will have free reign and he does some amazing things.
“He will be a very senior member of the team and a self-dependent head chef.
“He’s got a great reputation in Melbourne as well as around Perth CBD.
“Tony has been working on some menus that I think will take Bar One to the next level, and that’s what you need to do in the second year of business; it’s a crucial time.
“You have to solidify the vision and the focus.”
Mr Garita is already on board at the European-style Bar One so expect to see some changes to the food line-up in the coming weeks.
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Proprietors of Nedlands South-East Asian eatery Bibik Chan’s Satay Garden have opened another restaurant, of the same name, at The Swan Hotel in Fremantle.
While the new restaurant has been operating inside the pub since late last year it wasn’t until quite recently that the signs went up to let passers-by know. Bibik Chan’s owners Lin and Philip Quek have operated the popular Nedlands restaurant for 18 years and opened another restaurant two years ago in Belmont.
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Michael De Marte will open a cafe in South Perth by the middle of this year. He has been waiting since early 2004 to secure the lease of a site that he reckons is perfect for the cafe he has in mind and has finally had confirmation that he can take over the yet-to-be disclosed address on July 1 this year.
Mr De Marte will open a coffee shop similar to popular St Georges Terrace-based Rosso Espresso but with differences that will appeal to the South Perth market, he says.
Mr De Marte has also told Gusto he’s looking at a different site in South Perth to open something else, not the new concept cafe, not a Rosso and not a Bocca, the cafe restaurant he operates in Shafto Lane. Gusto will keep readers posted.
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Never one for taking things too seriously the Harvest boys, Miles Hull and Clint Nolan, are out and about marketing their next wine and food dinner event with the particularly catchy title ‘Sit Down, Shut Up, Just Eat Degustation’.
It takes place on February 23 and includes five wines to go with five-course menu designed by Mr Nolan. The wines are from the Barossa Valley from Tin Shed Winery, whose winemaker Peter Clarke is also a trained chef.
According to Mr Hull, Tin Shed makes great wines without taking itself too seriously, so it made sense to team up with them for the first event since he and Mr Nolan took over Harvest in August last year.
“They hand pick their fruit, foot stomp the grapes and are right into using wild yeasts. And best of all don’t take it all too seriously,” he says.
“Tin Shed is owned by a viticulturalist and a chef who share a passion of good food and good wine, so we think having them team up with us for a night of decadence at Harvest is quite fitting.
“Peter Clarke is blowing some frequent flyer points on a trip to North Fremantle to join us for the night and will be on hand to give us an insight into their unique style.”
The ‘Sit Down, Shut Up, Just Eat Degustation’ dinner costs $85 per person. And look out for the new food bar that will open in the restaurant’s courtyard soon.
“Out the back courtyard we are just about to put in our food bar where a table of up to five can sit right up at the kitchen and watch all the action while dining. It’s unlike anywhere else in Perth,” Mr Hull says.
