Former Biota chef Naomi Lowry opens Culina in Elizabeth Bay

Former Biota Dining head chef Naomi Lowry is opening the oven door on Saturday, November 18 at her own restaurant start-up in Sydney.

"I loved Biota but missed the city and my Golden Century too much," Lowry says of her otherwise fruitful time at the Bowral two-hatter.

She's been back in town, working at venues while plotting her own place.

Her new restaurant, Culina, slides into Elizabeth Bay, with the globe-trotting chef tapping her grandmother's cookbook for menu inspiration.

Don't expect CWA classics. "She taught me to cook. I'm using her recipes but not leaving them back in time," she says.

Grandma's scones, for instance, is a deconstructed play on the classic scone.

"The scones become a crumble we serve with ricotta and mascarpone, strawberries and strawberry jelly," Lowry says.

The English-born chef, who grew up between Britain, the US and Zimbabwe, describes herself as "a bit of a mongrel".

But it is that globe-trotting that has shaped her food, having worked with Oliver Peyton, Michel Roux, and locally with Jeremy Strode and Danny Russo.

"There's a pepper-cured mackerel on the menu that's inspired by a dish at Marks & Spencer I loved growing up," she says.

Her partner at Culina is Abhi Mahadevan, the son of Abhi's and Aki's chef Kumar Mahadevan.

She agrees the site they've chosen has a mixed history. "We are both determined to create somewhere that's here for a long time, somewhere I know everyone's name."

Open Tue-Sun 8am-11am, noon-3pm, 6-10pm.

Shop 1, 21 Elizabeth Bay Road, Elizabeth Bay, culinasydney.com.au.