Ortiga's Pablo Tordesillas joins Lotus Dining's new Sydney restaurant, The Resident

During his stint as head chef at Ortiga in Brisbane, Pablo Tordesillas won critics' attention and national awards. Now Sydney has nabbed Tordesillas with the chef joining an upcoming restaurant project backed by the expansive team behind Lotus Dining.

The Resident will open in May, sliding into College Street next to Hyde Park – a strip better known for hotels and museums than restaurants.

Tordesillas, who studied law before turning to the professional kitchen (working in Europe and for a spell at Otto in Woolloomooloo) stresses The Resident won't follow the upmarket dining model he believes contributed to the eventual closure of Ortiga.

"Fine dining can be dangerous," he says. "We'll do sophisticated Mediterranean, but it'll be accessible. The people behind Lotus restaurants got in touch with me, there wasn't really anything interesting in Brisbane and they have big plans." Designer Paul ​Papadopoulos (Alpha) will craft The Resident's interior.