It’s already been one of the liveliest openings Sydney has seen this year. The Old Clare Hotel continues to take shape, preparing for the opening of it’s third restaurant following Automata and Silvereye, Jason Atherton’s Kensington Street Social. The recently re-opened boutique hotel has become quite the destination for food and drink lovers across the city, helped along by it’s classy street-level bar and rooftop pool-bar.
Atherton, a British Michelin-starred Chef who has enjoyed opening in New York and Dubai this year, will open Kensington Street Social on January 13th in partnership with Loh Lik Peng, who is the Director of global boutique hotel and restaurant group Unlisted Collection. It will be the largest of the three Old Clare Hotel restaurants, with capacity for 120 seated guests. The exciting restaurant will be open seven days a week and offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a special brunch menu on Sundays.
Atherton is working with his Australian Executive Chef Rob Daniels to ensure that Australian producers have a big involvement in the menu, aiming for a true reflection of this country’s fine produce, with a wine list that leans towards local regions but also brings in some international staples. The food will be designed towards British-Mediterranean share plates, spanning snacks, vegetables, raw and cured sourdough flatbreads, fish and shellfish, meat, cheese, and desserts. Flexibility has been at the forefront in designing the menu, offering diners various options from casual snacks with cocktails to full multi-course meals with paired wines.
Confirmed dishes include those on the all-day menu like English Breakfast Tea & Toast, which is a modern interpretation of ‘tea and toast’, with wild mushroom tea served in a teapot with relish and bone marrow toast; Marinated Salmon with tatsoi salad, chilli, and wasabi ponzu; Sea Urchin Risotto with Moreton Bay bug tail, lemon, and bottarga; and Zokoko Alto Beni Soufflé with macadamia ice-cream.
Breakfast dishes also sound just as impressive, with healthy options including Organic Seed & Grain Oatmeal Porridge with pineapple, chilli, and mint, and lightly smoked Flathead Baked Omelette with bacon and spring onion.
Cheese lovers need not worry, as Atherton and Daniels have curated a massive selection, including Aussie favourite Holy Goat La Luna Goats Cheese, served with pickled fennel, bitter orange jam, and cress.
The hotel’s beverage Director Matt Fairhurst has curated a playful list of cocktails, which include Kensington Street Social’s Vodka-based Fruit Loop Milk with apricot and Aperol served in a milk carton. Favourites from The Clare will also be present, including the Kahuna Colada which mixed pineapple Rum and Batch Brewing’s coconut brown ale.
“I’m so excited to be opening my first restaurant in Sydney,” said Atherton, “I’m all about sourcing the best produce, and here the ingredients are just incredible – Australian black truffles, the seafood – so I’m looking forward to using them to reinterpret a few of the signature dishes from my London restaurants.”
The interior will be handled by Shanghai-based group Neri & Hu and Matt Darwon, aimed at created a sophisticated look that draws on the industrial heritage of the restaurant’s location within the former Carlton United Brewery building.
Kensington Street Social
Address: 3 Kensington Street, Chippendale
Contact: 02 8277 8533
Website: www.kensingtonstreetsocial.com.au
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