Alexandria restaurant Vicinity closes after three years

Vicinity Dining shut its doors on the weekend, a rare food venue closure in booming Alexandria. The sprawling three-year-old restaurant-bar, which boasted an interior with a pricetag a shade under $2 million, was seemingly well-positioned next to crowded local, The Grounds.

Vicinity owner Rob Rubis​ confirmed Vicinity's passing, which followed a number of chef changes and several tweaks of its menu.

"It recently went back to basics. It didn't work as well as we'd hoped, in an area like Alexandria you need an edge, you need to do something different," he says.

That point of difference will arrive from the team at Cooh Cafe & Roaster in North Curl Curl. Rubis confirmed the Cooh team will step in as the new operator of the Vicinity site and reopen early September, with a new name, after a few tweaks to the interior.

If it follows the pitch of the northern beaches venue, expect a focus on organics, with plenty of gluten-free and vegetarian options. The name Cooh comes from carboxylic acid, or CO2H, an organic acid.