Louie no more

Davis Yu has pulled the pin on his South Yarra restaurant Louie.

Yu, who also owns Touche Hombre Electrica in South Yarra and Touche Hombre in the city, has confirmed the restaurant, which overlooks the Royal Botanic Gardens, “will not reopen, ever.”

Yu says that his reasons for closing are “timing and most of my core team are now at my other venues.”

Chef Michael Harrison and other staff were informed of the closure today.

The iconic venue was previously French restaurant Lynch's for 30 years and bought by the entrepreneurial Pausewang family in 2007. They eventually leased the space to Yu in 2010. He originally called the restaurant The Millswyn but when that failed to ignite customers interest he rebranded it Louie and made the venue more casual.

In March this year, chef Sean Judd left Louie to become head chef at the then Claremont Tonic (renamed Touche Hombre Electrica) replaced by Simon Meagher. By April, Meagher had been replaced by Harrison (ex-Syracuse and Attica).

Yu has confirmed that the Pausewang family are going to turn the building into a private residence.

Hilary McNevin