Page 10 - foodservice Magazine July 2019

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STARTERS
Stokehouse Q gets a new executive chef
Stokehouse St Kilda’s head chef Ollie Hansford has taken the role of executive chef at Stokehouse Q in Brisbane, replacing Richard Ousby who stepped down in June after six years.
In a statement, the Van Haandel Group said that both Ousby and the Group had determined it was time for Ousby to seek new challenges.
Hansford, who, after cooking in London, commenced his career in Australia at Stokehouse Q in 2013, will return in spring to take on the top job.
The Van Haandel Group is now on the hunt for someone to join the lauded list of head chefs at Stokehouse St Kilda, which includes Oliver Gould, Anthony Musarra, Maurice Esposito and Michael Lambie.
Paper Bird among string of recent Sydney restaurant closures
The hatted restaurant, which opened in 2017, will close on August 3. Just two years in, it had garnered attention for its modern take on Japanese, Chinese and Korean cuisines – particularly its fried chicken, which is brined in shrimp paste before it’s battered and fried.
The restaurant is just one of several in Sydney to close in 2019.
In June alone, Newtown degustation restaurant Oscillate Wildly, Potts Point’s the Fish Shop, pasta restaurant ACME, Thai stalwart Longrain, and 19-year-old Billy Kwong also closed or announced their imminent closures.
Attica falls from the World’s 50 Best list
Australia’s most highly ranked restaurant, Attica in Melbourne, has fallen from the World’s 50 Best List for the first time in six years.
After achieving its highest ever place last year at number 20, Ben Shewry’s fine diner in Ripponlea has dropped to 84, while Dan Hunter’s Brae dropped from 58 to 101.
At the award ceremony in Singapore on June 25, Mauro Colagreco’s Mirazur on the French Riviera reached
number one – the first time a French
restaurant has claimed the title since 2002.
Osteria Francescana did not appear on the list this year due to new rules that do
not allow former number one restaurants
to be listed again. Instead, the restaurants move to an honorary Best of the Best list. The change is an effort to free up spaces for newcomers, but this year’s list was still a mix of familiar names.
The new rule runs the risk of ambiguity in the future, as the World’s 50 Best Restaurants may not actually contain the best restaurants by their own standards. The Best of the Best list now houses seven
restaurants – two of which fell from the 50 Best list several years ago (the French Laundry and the Fat Duck), and el Bulli and “Noma (original location)”, which have since closed.
Noma, which temporarily closed in 2017 to reopen in a new location in February 2018, was allowed to re-enter the list this year, despite its wins as number one in 2010, 2011, 2012, and
2014, because of its new location. It was considered a new restaurant and this year it rang in at number 2, also claiming the “highest new entry” award.
Over 1000 critics and industry professionals from around the world participate in voting for the final winners, and this year only two in Australia are
on the full 120-place list. The top 50 were mainly from Europe, plus seven from Asia, seven from Central or South America, five from the US and one from Africa.
Brae debuted in the top 50 at number 44 in 2017 when the award ceremony was hosted at the Royal Exhibition in Melbourne. That same year Attica placed 32nd.