Pocket Group to come to Campbell Parade in Sydney?

It'll take time before it fully shakes its old Swiss Grand moniker, but the food and drink dominos are really starting to line up at the soon-to-open Pacific Bondi Beach development on Campbell Parade. The Pocket Group, which operates bars from Darlinghurst to France [with a pit stop in Terrigal], is short odds to join incoming operators, and Good Food hears the long-standing chef at KU DE TA in Bali is part of the team headed into another site at the development. Pocket Group owner Karl Schlothauer​ confirmed he'll add Bondi Beach to a growing portfolio of venues if a few small hurdles can be sorted out with council. Schlothauer says it won't carry the Pocket Bar name. "We're in the process of signing. It'd be our flagship. It won't have a menu, waiters will come to the table and drinks will be made specifically for customers. And it'd have a raw bar," he says.

Word down on Campbell Parade is chef Phillip Davenport is part of the team being assembled for a separate venue, the large corner site, which sounds like it'll have shades of Coogee Pavilion. Davenport, who has spent the past seven years running the kitchen at KU DE TA, is heavily connected with Sydney, having worked at Hugos before a spell at Aura in London's Mayfair. TV food fans will know Davenport from the TV series The Toque 12.