Australasia was a small revolution when it opened in Manchester in 2011.
It was intended to be a paean to its creator the late Tim Bacon’s homeland of Australia, and its melting pot fusion of cuisines.
Bacon, the creative force behind restaurant group Living Ventures, who died in 2016, was among those behind the protruding pyramid in the centre of Spinningfields, in stark contrast to its immediate neighbour, the gothic John Rylands Library.
Now the place has been ‘reinvented’, according to new operator Orka Koncepts. Owner Christian Coates started his career with Living Ventures, working directly with Bacon and his partner Jeremy Roberts [‘the trailblazers’, he calls them], so for him, this was so much more than just taking on a new project.
“There’s a lot of nostalgia there for me,” says Christian. “It was so pioneering, so forward thinking at the time. Way ahead of anything else. It was a real passion project for Tim, and it was important to me to keep that going. We’d like to think we’ve made him proud with what we’ve done.
“It was an amazing opportunity, one that we grabbed with both hands, but also what we wanted to do is inject some of that love back in that had perhaps dwindled a bit in the last years.”
In the years since Australasia first opened, the city has changed radically, not least the landscape in Spinningfields itself.
“Everything around Australasia had changed, from the industry, to the landscape around it to the competition. It was almost stuck in this little time capsule,” says Christian.
To address this, they’ve brought in a whole new management team, including new exec chef Lucie Sainerova – formerly of Novikov in Soho – who will be exploring the Pacific Rim in her new, revitalised menu.
Her favourite dish is the fall-apart beef shortrib, served on the bone perhaps simply to show off how easily it slides off it, along with purple heritage pommes souffle, wasabi mash and a sweet umami glaze.
Other large plates include a lavish king crab leg and black pepper wagyu beef, though there’s a curated selection of sushi, small plates and skewers too, and a load of open-flame cooking. “No sparklers or dry ice,” he jokes.
Similarly to when it first opened, the plan is to make the bar a destination in its own right too, a spot for drinks – and perhaps a snack – before heading on elsewhere, or into the restaurant.
Echoed from the Pacific Rim menu, the interior decor has been tweaked accordingly too, with the pampas grass replaced by green plants winding their way around the venue.
“It’s been hard work, but it’s been incredible so far,” he says. “How Manchester’s received us with open arms. It feels like there were a lot of people waiting to see it return back to its former glory.”
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