Chef-owner of Ormeggio at the Spit Alessandro Pavoni is slated to open an old-school Italian fine diner called a’Mare at Crown Sydney this year. Meaning ‘at the sea’, a’Mare will plate up classic Italian cuisine with a focus on sustainable seafood. As per the Italian tradition, dishes will be simply prepared using just five ingredients or less. “It has been a dream of mine to create the best classical Italian restaurant in Australia. I am inspired by the nostalgic romance of dining out; when service was paramount, food was simply delicious and the maître-d knew your name. This is what I envisage for a’Mare at Crown Sydney,” Alessandro Pavoni said.

Ross and Sunny Lusted’s new woodfire restaurant Woodcut will offer a unique dining experience that celebrates Australian produce cooked over the coals. Diners can expect Bruny Island mussels, Fraser Island spanner crabs, O’Connor beef and Maremma wild raised ducks prepared in wood and charcoal grills, wood ovens and steam kettles. “This earthy and sensory cooking method will be at the heart of the Woodcut experience. Imagine whole John Dory in a cast iron pan straight from the wood oven, Queensland mud crab cooked in steam kettles or the rich and earthy flavours of duck slow-cooked in clay pots,” Ross Lusted said.

Ryuichi Yoshii from Fujisaki and Yoshii restaurant will head up an intimate 12-seat omakase restaurant set inside the entrance to Nobu. Omakase is a style of Japanese dining where the menu is left in the hands of the chef, with food cooked in front of guests and served to them by the chef personally. “One of the things I love most about Sydney is the seafood produce we have access to, so I can’t wait to start creating dishes together with Chef Nobu that hero that remarkable fresh local produce. The location of Crown Sydney with its incredible location on Sydney harbour will also inspire the dishes you will see on my menu,” Ryuichi Yoshii said.

Joining a’Mare, Woodcut and Yoshii’s at the Crown Sydney will be Nobu, a Japanese fine diner by Nobu Matsuhisa and an unnamed restaurant by Clare Smyth, the protege of Gordon Ramsay who also catered for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding reception. Nine new restaurants and bars are still yet to be announced. Crown Sydney is slated to open in Barangaroo in December 2020.