Goodbye, Vietnam, as Sydney's Forty Licks shuts its doors

Forty Licks, the contemporary Vietnamese bar-restaurant that opened last May on York Street in the Sydney CBD, has fallen at a Saigon-like pace. A winding up order and appointment of a liquidator notice has popped up on the ASIC website for Mother Clucker Charcoal Chicken trading as Forty Licks.

It's bitter news for fans of Vietnam's lesser-known culinary gems. Its team had lived and worked in Vietnam and aimed high with the offer.

It was a magnet for the country's top reviewers, and while the service and noise levels copped an early pounding, there was an overwhelming sense this was a restaurant charting new turf.

Its expensive looking fitout, neatly tailored staff and Asian-inspired cocktails were a prelude to some of Vietnam's little-travelled dishes. Hopefully it will rise again, in one form or the other.