Acclaimed Australian chefs who have established their culinary footprint in cities like Sydney and Melbourne are branching interstate to diversity their offering and grow their restaurant portfolio.

But what works in one major city, might not play out in the next as these restaurateurs reveal.

The farmer has a third daughter in Sydney – and she’s Latina

Alejandro Saravia’s Good Food Guide-hatted Farmer’s Daughter has become a Melbourne institution in the last five years, largely due to its consistency in meal quality and service.

Known for its Gippsland-centric menu, the formula hits the right note with diners who want to support local farmers and micro-businesses when they head out for a fancy meal. It’s a culinary approach that’s always seasonal and where patronage is growing.

In the heart of Sydney’s CBD, and located within the heritage listed GPO, is where Saravia has opened Morena – a new flavour hit that’s Latin American-leaning in its ambition to bring a Peruvian-inspired menu to the table.

In Melbourne, he’d won over the corporate and business clientele across two venues, including Victoria by Farmer’s at Federation Square, and the timing to move to Sydney felt right.

Alejandro Saravia of Farmer’s Daughter fame. Picture: Supplied

“The location is the key in Sydney for us. The GPO building at Martin Place is a Sydney landmark, in the heart of the financial district and tourists are all around – that’s the audience we want to tap into,” Mr Saravia told realcommercial.com.au.

“Morena is an elevated Latin American concept which is more suited to Sydney; they seem ready to embrace the Latin American food more so than in Melbourne which is why we went down this route here.”

Sydney diners also love a happy hour offering, yet in Saravia’s experience, Melbourne couldn’t care less – if they want a drink, they’ll turn up for it no matter what.

Weather also impacts how Sydneysiders dine – when the weather’s not great, they won’t venture, whereas in Melbourne, rain hail or shine, they commit.

Inside Morena, Sydney. Picture: Supplied, Arianna Leggiero

Saravia splits time between the two cities and admits the dining market in Melbourne is more reliable than Sydney.

“In Melbourne, it’s about doing food and beverage well without being too pretentious or over the top – it’s very classic and more refined in a sense.

“Yet in Sydney, people want to be entertained with table side service; they constantly need that entertainment on offer – they’re quick and fast. They push hard on the consumer offering.”

The dining formula is a mix of pre-fixed day time menus – more specials and tasting menus that come with three varietals. When it comes to high end wine, Sydney is out-drinking Melbourne diners at his venues.

Saravia has signed a 15-year lease at GPO Sydney – a chance to really give his hospitality venue a good crack.

“It’s a long time but it also gives you a good length of time to invest with a clear vision and a longer return, rather than try recover money in a shorter period of time – where we know in hospitality is not the case,” he said.

“Trading in the first three months of a new business is a honeymoon period for any restaurant.

“People come to the venue and you’re booked out, then it drops considerably and people move onto the next new opening – that’s the window you have to capture them with new offerings and give them a reason to come back.”

Saravia says Sydney has embraced Latin food culture more than Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

Cracking the Melbourne code

Having worked in hospitality around the world – including creating the menu on Qatar Airways business- and first-class flights – Sydney restaurateur and executive chef Ross Lusted opened his first restaurant Marmelo in Melbourne on Russell Street two years ago.

“People said to me you’re mad opening a restaurant in Melbourne, and that Sydney chefs don’t do well in Melbourne” Mr Lusted said.

“I never really thought of it like that, and it made total sense to come here and bring my lens of Portuguese to Melbourne. It’s not a forced narrative, and one that diners are keen to take on board.”

The San Pellegrino Young Chef Judge for 2026 and his wife Sunny also have the fine dining restaurant Woodcut at Crown Sydney – the one that then Crown owner James Packer asked him to open at the Casino back in 2020.

Ross Lusted of Woodcut fame in Sydney has moved down south with his restaurant, Marmelo, in Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

“I’d been working on Woodcut for five years in the USA, and would have opened a series in the States if it hadn’t been for the financial crisis,” Mr Lusted said.

“The fact that James loved my other Sydney restaurant [Bridge Room, closed in 2019] and asked if I wanted to open something bigger, I was like well… actually?!”

Melbourne restaurant marvel opens in Sydney

Lee Ho Fook’s award-winning chef and restaurateur, Victor Liong, recently opened his Sydney restaurant in the heritage listed Porter House in the CBD. He redefines Chinese cuisine through a modern Australian lens, and his decision to move to Sydney was to tap into the demand for Chinese gastronomy.

“In Sydney, Le Ho Fook takes more of a gastronomic focus; for us, it’s about seeing what’s new in Chinese gastronomy and understanding how I fit into the Australian dining landscape,” Mr Liong said.

Liong, who has also expanded with a larger restaurant footprint at Marvel Stadium, can now host up to 150 diners at Marvel’s Medallion Club. That’s more than double he can accommodate at his Duckboard Place restaurant off Flinders Lane.

Victor Liong of Lee Ho Fook fame is bringing his gastronomical Chinese talents north to Sydney. Picture: Supplied, Arianna Leggiero

And it’s also where diners can enjoy dumplings, which aren’t available at his original location – it’s that point of difference that keeps the palette chasers ever attentive to what might happen next.

The upgraded restaurant footprint at Marvel chimes on his two-hatted success at Good Food Guide too.

“At Marvel, Le Ho Fook diners want high-quality classic experiences. The dumplings are a hit here; whereas in Sydney we are more about share plates, larger dishes and classic flavour profiles that we’ve built in terms of our signature,” Mr Liong said.

According to Marvel Stadium’s CEO Scott Fitzgerald, knowing that Liong extends his culinary reputation interstate will no doubt do wonders for his placement at the sporting ground.

“At Marvel we’re trying to be the best of Melbourne and if you don’t have a really good modern Asian cuisine, then you’re not reflective of Melbourne and Melbourne’s food heritage,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

Household name heads north

Shane Delia, best known for his Melbourne restaurants Maha – named after his wife – and Jayda – his daughter – opened his first restaurant in Brisbane last year.

Layla is contributing to the burgeoning food scene in Brisbane, bringing a modern Middle Eastern inspiration to the table.

“There is so much going on in Brisbane; there’s a sense of hope, optimism, a stable economy and the Olympics is around the corner. The produce is top quality and it feels like a breath of fresh air to have a restaurant here,” Mr Delia said.

Shane Delia’s aim of opening in Brisbane is to avoid the echo chamber of Melbourne. Picture: Supplied, Jason Loucas

“I think when you’ve be stuck in the same city for a long time, you become restrained creatively. People expect a certain cuisine and it’s almost like you’re in an echo chamber.

“For me there’s been many freedoms that have come with having a presence interstate, and you become unshackled and cook food that you want to cook – without being under the culinary microscope of Melbourne. It has been liberating.”

Source link

Property funds manager Charter Hall is again expanding its retail property holdings, picking up Melbourne’s well-known Tooronga Village shopping centre for $79m.

The company has identified convenience retail as a primary growth area, and the sector’s resilience is boosting its performance even as larger malls are under pressure.

The trend, which emerged ahead of the pandemic, is solidifying as consumers focus on everyday needs and shift away from discretionary spending. At the same time, large supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles are rolling out fewer centres because of rising construction costs, even though population growth is increasing.

The company is buying for its unlisted Charter Hall Convenience Retail Fund, which has attracted about $3bn of institutional backing and is targeting a $4.5bn-plus portfolio.

Charter Hall is buying the Melbourne asset from Newmark Capital, which acquired the centre from Stockland in 2019 for about $63.2m. Newmark sold five strata podium lots for $7m in 2021-22 and returned capital to investors at that time.

Newmark boosted the centre’s income and the sale is a strong result for investors.

The Tooronga Village deal will show a capitalisation rate of about 5.75 per cent. The move to expand the vehicle came as Charter Hall chief executive David Harrison nominated the sector as a key area for his business’s expansion.

Charter Hall is stepping up its property purchasing at a time when few others are in the market and many rival players are making bids contingent on raising capital to complete deals.

Tooronga Village is a 7724sq m neighbourhood centre anchored by Coles, alongside two mini-majors, 20 specialty stores, five kiosks, an ATM, car wash and extensive basement parking. It serves the blue-chip areas of Toorak, Malvern, Hawthorn, Kooyong and Glen Iris.

The off-market deal was negotiated by Tim McIntosh and Will Heffernan from Colliers, and Stonebridge Property Group’s Justin Dowers and Kevin Tong.

Mr McIntosh said the centre’s strong trading fundamentals and strategic positioning in Melbourne’s inner east attracted Charter Hall’s interest.

“Tooronga Village is anchored by a highly productive Coles supermarket, with the centre sales productivity above $17,000 per square metre, ranking the centre as one of the highest performing neighbourhoods in inner metropolitan Melbourne,” he said. “Assets of this calibre are tightly held and rarely traded, particularly within Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs, making it a highly valuable investment proposition.”

Mr Dowers said the sale reflected the continued institutional demand for dominant convenience retail assets within affluent metropolitan catchments.

“High-quality neighbourhood shopping centres continue to attract significant investor interest, driven by strong population growth, resilient supermarket performance and limited incoming new supply,” he said.

Mr Dowers said the strong rental growth experienced across the neighbourhood shopping centre sector was driving substantial capital reweighting into convenience retail. This transaction alongside the recent sales of Burwood Brickworks and Coles and Aldi Kilmore amounted to more than $220m of Melbourne neighbourhood centre transactions in the past two months.

Charter Hall is separately buying Yeppoon Central shopping centre on the state’s Capricorn Coast from developer Laurence Lancini. The Woolworths-anchored subregional shopping centre is selling for more than $70m and will show a yield of about 6.5 per cent.

Charter Hall has been the top buyer of convenience retail assets this year and its purchases include $250m worth of centres in Queensland and NSW bought from Vicinity Centres.

Last year, it bought the Burwood One Shopping Centre in Melbourne for $210m and bought Southport Park from billionaire John Van Lieshout for $152.5m.

Source link

A five-storey Melbourne CBD building earning almost $8000 a week is up for grabs for the same price as a suburban mansion.

The 410 Lonsdale St freehold, in Melbourne’s legal precinct, has a $7m guide, five tenants and more than $413,000 in annual passing income.

The property last changed hands in June 2023 for $6.854m, at a reported net passing yield of 2.8 per cent.

The latest guide puts the entire city building in the same price conversation as a prestige family home in some of Melbourne’s most expensive suburbs.
RELATED: Portelli’s $99 wild grocery gamble shocks shoppers
Revealed: Two new retail hubs coming to Melb’s west

End of an era as Melb’s original La Porchetta sold

But instead of a luxury residence, buyers would get about 978sq m of office and retail space across five levels on a 208sq m site, with frontages to Lonsdale St and Finlay Alley.

The building is moments from Melbourne Central Station, Town Hall Station, Bourke St Mall, Hardware Lane and the city’s court precinct.

Colliers investment services manager Christian Hatzis said the holding income, flexible floorplates and CBD location would appeal to a broad buyer pool.

“With strong holding income, flexible floorplates and genuine upside, this is an opportunity that will appeal to private investors, syndicators and long-term holders seeking exposure to a premium CBD location with proven demand,” Mr Hatzis said.

Colliers is pitching the property as one of only a handful of Melbourne CBD freeholds expected to be offered to the market in 2026.

The building, once known as ASEA House, survived a major 1934 fire before becoming part of Melbourne’s post-war industrial story. Picture: supplied

The asset is being marketed with potential upside through leasing, repositioning or a strata selldown.

Colliers investment services director Alex Browne said agents were seeing renewed confidence in well-located CBD assets with strong fundamentals and repositioning potential.

“The legal precinct remains one of the city’s most tightly held markets, with low vacancy, strong tenant demand and ongoing infrastructure investment supporting long-term value,” Mr Browne said.

But the building’s backstory gives it another layer beyond the financials.

The interwar survivor was built in 1923 for hardware merchant J S Kidd, which commissioned prominent Melbourne architects H W & F B Tompkins to design a five-storey warehouse on the site.

The 410 Lonsdale St freehold is being pitched with five tenants, five levels and a $7m guide in Melbourne’s legal precinct. Picture: Colliers

The firm was also behind major Myer buildings on Bourke and Lonsdale streets, giving the Lonsdale St freehold a link to one of Melbourne’s best-known retail dynasties.

The building’s early life took a dramatic turn in October 1934, when a major fire tore through the warehouse and caused an estimated £20,000 damage.

J S Kidd relocated to Carlton the following year, before the Lonsdale St building was sold to Richard R Thomas, chairman of electrical engineering and machinery merchant R & C Thomas.

The company held the sole Australian distribution rights for Swedish electrical company ASEA, and by 1938 the property had been renamed ASEA House.

The five-storey building later became a hub for heavy electrical equipment, including transformers and three-phase motors supplied to government and municipal customers.

The Melbourne CBD building has survived fire, changing tenants and more than a century of city transformation. Picture: Colliers

Its post-war life was captured by industrial photographer Wolfgang Sievers, whose 1958 Lonsdale St image showed the facade bearing the ASEA House signage.

The building is now protected under Melbourne’s Heritage Overlay, with its five-storey scale, upper facade, steel-framed windows, projecting pilasters, parapet and heavy dentilled cornice among the key heritage elements.

The property is being offered for sale via expressions of interest through Colliers agents Christian Hatzis, Alex Browne and Matt Stagg, closing June 18.

Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.

MORE: Portelli’s wild 22pc flex against 7-Eleven
200 Aus stores: El Jannah denies sad rumour
New Vic retail hub’s plan to stop $277m spending leak

david.bonaddio@news.com.au

Source link