Taste of things to come; Teppanyaki, Ivy
It says much for Sydney’s love of a party that just over a week after hotelier Justin Hemmes opened the doors of his $150 million venue Ivy we were barely able to get a booking for dinner. As I walked alone down a scaffold-surrounded pathway off George St, I started to doubt the receptionist’s assertion of being nearly full. Around a corner, three trendy types stood at a makeshift dias and asked a moppet wearing a faux-fur parka and skinny jeans to guide me upstairs. All was quiet in the artfully unfinished lift and then, as the lift doors opened, it was like landing on another planet entirely. Easily 1000 punters— some in suits having a post-work drink, but many dressed for a party—were crowded into the three bars that share the second floor with Teppanyaki, which, along with Mad Cow, the New York-style steakhouse downstairs, make up the fine-dining offerings for the first-stage opening of Ivy. When the complex is finished later this year, there will be 18 bars and nine restaurants in the complex. Unlike the teppanyaki many Australians have grown accustomed to (of the flying noodle variety) at this upmarket big sister to Establishment, the showmanship comes from the passing parade. Along with the eye-candy consuming the (seriously pricey) food and drinks, there are vampy waitresses—who were given NIDA training when they were recruited —wearing micro-mini kimonos, heavy eye make-up and loosely piled chignon hairstyles. Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), February 17.
