Sydney dining scene hit with its biggest closure yet

Sydney’s gruelling toll of hospitality closures has claimed perhaps its biggest scalp yet, with the Bentley Restaurant Group announcing it will close its luxe two-hat Cirrus Dining at Barangaroo.

The seafood-focussed fine-diner will serve its last abalone schnitzel on September 1 after an eight-year run on the Barangaroo waterfront.

The development has seen a number of recent closures, with Hamish Ingham and Rebecca Lines closing Tequila Daisy and Korean restaurateur David Bae shutting the doors early at his Soot pop-up.

In a joint statement from Bentley Restaurant Group co-owners Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt, they described the decision to close as “bittersweet”.

“Whilst we wanted to extend our lease, we were unable to strike a deal with our new landlord,” the statement said.

While the pair were disappointed with the decision, they said it makes way for new opportunities, which will be announced soon.

“We are immensely proud of what we have achieved at Cirrus. We feel like we are going out on a high, with two hats in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, as well as currently holding the title of the Australian Wine List of the Year.”

Savage and Hildebrandt were seen as key signings when Barangaroo opened for business, and the corner site Cirrus Dining occupied was so prized it was briefly home to, prior to their opening, the 2016 pop-up from international food royalty Rene Redzepi from Noma restaurant in Copenhagen.

The site didn’t come without its problems. In Cirrus’ early years it faced towards another building site, Crown Sydney, a looming reminder of even more restaurant competition on the way. In recent times, construction has begun on the waterfront at Pier Pavilion.

A Barangaroo restaurateur, who asked not to be named, said mid-week trade had been affected by nearby office workers’ slow to return to a five-day week following COVID.

Bentley Restaurant Group has been busy elsewhere, recently rebooting Monopole in the Sydney CBD as a French restaurant and last year opening an Asian-inspired restaurant, King Clarence.

Cirrus Dining will host a handful of events before closing including a Crablis Sunday, a Cirrus alumni event and for the restaurant’s final service on Father’s Day.