Greek venue Topikos to close as pub operators behind The Orient Hotel move into Bondi
With the closure of several restaurants including Mexican venue Fonda, will casual and cruisy spots such as Belles Hot Chicken prove more popular in the beachside suburb?
Glam beachside restaurant Topikos Dining Room & Bar will close in early September, with the 15-month-old Greek eatery joining a tide of Bondi restaurant departures, including Mexican restaurant Fonda and well-reviewed local favourite, Drake.
Brett Robinson, chief executive of The Point Group, whose venues include Topikos, CBD rooftop restaurant and bar Shell House and pubs such as The Dolphin Hotel in Surry Hills, says the site has been sold to Edward Ryan of the Ryan family, who oversee a prominent Sydney hospitality group.
The Ryan family stable includes the Banksia Hotel near the airport and The Orient in The Rocks, among other popular drinking spots.
The new owner was attracted to the site’s hotel licence, Robinson says.
“The Ryan family are really experienced pub operators, they’re the right family for the precinct,” Robinson.
With family scion Edward Ryan, a Bondi local, tapping the sprawling site’s potential as its incoming operator, early indications seem to point to the site being made over in a traditional pub model with the inclusion of a sports bar.
Robinson thinks it’s a sound move. “There’s probably an oversupply of upper-end hospitality in Bondi,” he says.
He’s redirecting Point Group towards its freehold hotel interests and gearing up for its massive Fort Denison hospitality project, which is on track to open in 2024.
While the sudden closure of Mexican restaurant Fonda, on Bondi’s Hall Street, surprised some locals, they won’t have to wait long for a restaurant replacement. Belles Hot Chicken has nabbed the site, with plans to open in three months following a redesign inspired by 1970s US beachside diners.
Managing director of Belles Hot Chicken, Joss Jenner-Leuthart, says it will offer “comfort food, great booze and tunes just metres [from] Australia’s most iconic beach”.
The first Belles Hot Chicken opened in 2014, the brainchild of chefs Morgan McGlone and Aaron Turner following the duo’s stints living and working in hot chicken central, Nashville, Tennessee.
Under Jenner-Leuthart, Belles has heightened the pitch of its new venues, opening a flagship store at Circular Quay in March that combined aspects of a chicken shop, wine bar and local diner.
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Scott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.