Pilu head chef a coup for Rozelle

Rozelle has snared the talented head chef of Pilu at Freshwater, Daniel Mulligan, who landed at the Welcome Hotel last week.

Mulligan, an eight-year veteran at Pilu, left the award-winning restaurant late last year in search of a new challenge. And the Welcome Hotel is a challenge.

The pub had a great food reputation, but lingered in the hands of receivers before being snapped up by mining magnate Michael O'Keeffe in March. Now the chef with the Irish-sounding name wants to replace the Welcome's Irish-leaning menu with Italian food.

''I'm getting rid of all the powdered gravy,'' he jokes. In coming weeks he'll introduce more of his own dishes to the menu, including king prawns with fregola and spatchcock stuffed with lemon, garlic and chilli.

Mulligan says Pilu graduate Shige Tamura will join him in kitchen at the Welcome.