Celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge is back in the pub game, steering the pots at the reinvented Banksia Hotel’s ‘Banksia Bistro’.
Fassnidge departed his iconic gastro pub the Four in Hand after its sale in late 2015 to Mitchell Waugh’s Public House Management Group (PHMG).
PHMG was in the process of consolidating an unprecedented presence in Paddington, buying three top pubs and installing acclaimed chef Guillaume Brahimi as the Group’s ‘Culinary Ambassador’.
Also in late 2015, new group Monarch purchased both the Belmore and Banksia Hotels from the Waugh family, for a combined total of close to $50 million.
Since leaving The Four, Fassnidge has become further entrenched in his on-screen role as a judge in MKR, furthering his reputation and own brand in foodservice.
He now heads up the kitchen of the top-ranking pub in the new ‘Banksia Bistro’, alongside head chef Leigh McDivitt, and told Good Food previous successes are on the menu.
“Monarch Hotels has given us the kitchen at the Banksia Hotel, we’ll hopefully bring more life to it and attract a new demographic with the food. It’ll be exactly like the Four in Hand counter meals we used to do in Paddington,” said Fassnidge.
“We’ll have bigger menus on the weekends, we might do a suckling pig or a Sunday roast.”
The Irish chef became famous at The Four for his nose-to-tail cooking, the menu known to include a specialty ‘pig’s tail’. The Sunday roasts attracted crowds queuing for an hour or more to ensure they get some of the feast.
The Banksia Bistro is at this stage open for dinner every night, and lunch Friday to Sunday.
Went on Sunday lunchtime. Food tasted very good but only two out of ten for presentation. Ladies toilets dirty. On exiting bistro was greeted by the most horrible smell coming from garbage bins behind a roller door. Needs a great deal of work.