Barge brothers snap up Sailors Club site in Rose Bay

Veteran Sydney chef Greg Doyle is cashing in his chips in Rose Bay, ending a record run that started with the opening of Pier restaurant in 1991.

The benchmark waterfront business has been snapped up by the savvy restaurateur siblings the Barge brothers. Doyle, who re-branded Pier as The Sailors Club in 2012, will finish up next Sunday.

"We'll close it immediately,'' Chris Barge says. ''Luchetti Krelle will give it a redesign and we'll reopen for spring. We're playing with three names, but it will be modern-Australian with a seafood focus."

The sibling trio has big kitchen clogs to fill; Doyle took Pier to the three-toque summit during his tenure before making a switch to a more casual offering.

It is a case of handing the reins to Sydney's Generation Next.

Brothers Matt, Tim and Chris Barge cut their teeth with LL Wine & Dine in a former adult bookstore just off the Kings Cross strip, before opening the successful PaperPlanes Japanese restaurant at Bondi.

While Chris Barge agrees it is a changing of the guard, he says they have some inside running on the Rose Bay property, given their father, Neal Barge, ran the venue in the 1980s.

''We want to introduce a larger breakfast offering downstairs in the cafe. It really is a special spot, with the sun setting over Point Piper," Chris Barge says.