End of an era as The Point closes to become a function space

It's the end of an era for hatted Albert Park restaurant The Point, with the announcement from ChengCheng (Aust) Enterprise that the upstairs restaurant will become a function space after a last service on May 13.

The staff of The Point were informed on Saturday, May 5th that their positions would be made redundant, including newly appointed executive chef Francesco Castellana, the Puglia native who moved back to Australia from Thomas Keller's Per Se to take up the role.

Longtime Point restaurant manager Owen Gibbons says the decision is disappointing mostly in relation to Castellana, whom he had personally recruited to usher the recently refurbished Point into a new era. "He is one to watch," says Gibbons. "It's disappointing we won't be able to launch his new menu, which was incredible."

Despite becoming a function space, upstairs will continue to be known as the Point. Hidden Jade, the high-end Chinese restaurant which was launched downstairs in early 2016, will remain open.

Locky Wang, spokesperson for ChengCheng, says they are sorry for the closure but "from a business point of view, our owner intends to change the business pattern to what it was before Hidden Jade - one restaurant with multiple function spaces."

Wang says "as we still have some of the function team from The Point left, we will provide western-style functions plus Chinese-style functions (carried out by Hidden Jade kitchen team), until the transition is complete."

The Point has consistently held a hat over the years and been a proving ground for notable chefs Ian Curley, Andy Harmer, Justin Wise and Scott Pickett.