Fine diner Foveaux Street Dining closes in Surry Hills

Surry Hills' Foveaux Street Dining has shut its doors, the restaurant's closure marking the end of another fine dining chapter for Sydney. Foveaux's owner, Darrell Felstead, is part of the posse of chefs to come out of Stan Sarris and Rodney Adler's Banc-GPO stable in the early noughties, and while many of his former colleagues followed the market, branching into burgers and bistros, Felstead held firm.

A lush fitout and a repositioning to a more accessible menu late last year brought good reviews, but pundits wondered if the gifted chef could have journeyed to even simpler food turf.

The chef maintains a number of factors contributed to the closure. He points to the slower than expected reopening, a flood that closed the restaurant, and funding.

"I've given it a good poke, I wanted to draw a line in the sand … I always said if it wasn't making me happy in six months I'd sell it," he adds.

Felstead, who says he's enthusiastic about finding a job working for someone, is hopeful of paying off the restaurant's debts when the restaurant, with its near new interior, is sold.

Foveaux is listed with restaurant broker Michael Fischer & Associates.