Celebrity chef Rick Stein to open flagship restaurant in Sydney

Get ready Sydney, British celebrity chef Rick Stein is coming. Together with wife Sarah Stein, he’s announced plans to open a 220-seat restaurant and bar overlooking Coogee Beach in November.

The restaurant, Rick Stein at Coogee Beach, is set to be a day-long celebration of Australian-caught seafood at the upcoming InterContinental hotel – from Stein’s signature Cornish-style fish and chips (hand-cut potatoes, fried fish with a generous splash of malt vinegar) at lunch; to a refined (but relaxed) dinner service, serving pies filled with scallops, snapper and blue-eye trevalla.

It will be a familiar concept to those who have dined at Stein’s two regional restaurants at the two Bannisters hotels. The one in Port Stephens was awarded a Critics’ Pick in the current Good Food Guide, but the Mollymook restaurant didn’t make the cut.

The Bannisters hotels were recently acquired by Melbourne-based investment fund Salter Brothers, which went on to partner with British hotelier IHG in April. (Salter Brothers also run the Spicers Retreats.) As part of that deal, the company is working to rebrand and transform three Crowne Plaza hotels into InterContinental hotels, including the beachfront property at Coogee.

That’s where the Steins come back in.

“We don’t really have ambitions about, you know, growing enormously,” Rick says, noting regional restaurants will continue to operate unaffected.

“But [Salter Brothers] happened to have this property at Coogee, and the beachfront location appealed to us. At the end of the day, that’s what the restaurants at Port Stephens and Mollymook are about – having a connection with the sea.”

The sea has always been central to Rick’s career as a restaurateur, which began with a small harbourside bistro called The Seafood Restaurant, back in 1975. The chef rose to prominence as a TV personality, hosting BBC shows such as Rick Stein’s Taste of the Sea, and author, publishing more than 25 cookbooks.

He’s since built an international hospitality empire, which spans 11 restaurants over two separate operations in Australia and the UK.

In Sydney, Sarah will handle the blue and white coastal aesthetics and publicity, while Rick will prepare the restaurant. First, by selecting a head chef – “someone who understands how excellent the seafood is in Australia, and how to serve it up in the best possible way … without the fuss of fine-dining” – and then, by writing the menu.

When formulating dishes, Stein prefers a simple, straightforward approach to cooking, allowing local produce to sing. He draws on a lifetime of memories and influences – growing up in the UK, travelling throughout Europe and India for his television shows, eating at some of Neil Perry’s first restaurants; and dinner parties with his wife in Sydney.

There’s a fish curry, influenced by his time in Goa; a tuna crudo, marinated with passionfruit, lime and green chilli, which he made for a New Year’s Eve potluck in Sydney 15 years ago; and the fish pie, which gives the British staple an Aussie spin.

“We want to serve fantastic food, but we also think it’s vital to have very good restaurant managers,” Sarah says. “It’s important to us that everyone, no matter who they are, feel as though they’re treated with the same warmth and friendliness.”

The Steins plan to visit the restaurant at least three times each year, as they split their life between Australia and the UK. It’s an approach that’s worked for other British restaurateurs in Australia – namely, Clare Smyth, who operates three-hatted Oncore by Clare Smyth from afar, with visits to the Barangaroo restaurant at least every six months.