Mikee Collins, the Sydney restaurateur who survived a 25-metre fall from an apartment building in 2011, is back at the restaurant coalface, as general manager at a restaurant in the old Zigolini's site on Short Street, Double Bay. Vine Double Bay, which opens in early October, has serious intent with its food, snaring Drew Bolton, a chef with Napa Valley's The French Laundry on his CV.
"It'll be a bit like The Centennial but with more of a wine bar feel," Collins says.
"The partners are Gavin Douchkov, who has a background in construction, and Joseph Ralph from the gym and fitness industry," he says. The opening menu shows promise: whole duck glazed with lavender and star anise, and cod, prawns, black garlic and asparagus in a "galangal scented" bouillon. It will also serve goat's cheese marshmallows. Collins says he's tempered some of his more extravagant dance moves since the accident, which led to a two-month stay in hospital, but that he's back in good working order.
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