Petersham's White Cockatoo pub to reopen as West Village restaurant

Petersham already has the recently opened Public House on its hot list, as of this week you can add the West Village and its pineapple ketchup. Previously called The White Cockatoo (and before that the Lord Carrington Hotel), Henry Lawson is believed to have resided in one of its rooms.

The refit of the 1886 hotel by Goodtime Hospitality is decidedly 2015, with lead-wrapped bar corners, floor inlays and a food menu punching out blue swimmer crab rolls. "We've created an open-air space from a gaming room area," says co-owner Locky Paech.

Former Catalina chef Sam Thomson's opening menu includes a version of the Canadian staple poutine, given some Asian tailoring with the addition of kimchi. Thomson makes his own pineapple ketchup, serving it with a herb crusted pork loin.

Paech, who was part of the new wave Drink'n'Dine group that rebooted the Norfolk in Redfern and the Forresters in Surry Hills, is fascinated by the building's history, as a backdrop to Lawson's poetry and a 1920s Sydney rarity, a female hotelier.