By Vanessa Cavasinni, editor Australian Hotelier
The well-known eastern Sydney pub will reopen Friday 30 June, after an extensive internal renovation and a change in the food offering direction.
Purchased by Mitchell Waugh’s Public House Management Group in December 2015, the venue was shut down recently to take the venue in a new direction.
The dining room has been rebranded The Grill at the Four, with Executive Chef John Collins and head chef Daniel Menzies overseeing a pared-back menu that focuses on meat and seafood cooked over a Brazilian-imported charcoal grill. Highlights on the menu include a quarter suckling pig, whole snapper with caper lemon butter and rib eye on the bone.
The bar menu includes the suckling pig once more – this time in a ‘sanger’ –chilli beef nachos and grain rump with smoked butter.
Waugh explained that the new direction was at the behest of local patrons, who were looking for a more relaxed experience.
“There’s no doubt our Four in Hand regulars and locals want a premium dining experience, they just don’t want it to be too stuffy or formal. Bistro Moncur in Woollahra has a similar customer base and is a great example of that being true. So we’ve retained a premium offering but tweaked how that’s executed from the perspective of the menu, the interiors as well as the service. It’s now a space you feel comfortable to relax in and that’s a sentiment that’s carried throughout the venue.”
The interiors of the hotel have been updated by Amandine Odouard who also worked on Bar Moncur and Bistro Moncur. The Grill at The Four has been transformed into a cosy space with rich timber and quilted leather panelling on the walls, along with brass fittings.
While the public bar has had very little transformation, the back room was completely renovated to create a more casual pub dining space, plus the latest in TAB facilities for punters.