A Middle Eastern restaurant from Merivale? Put your money on it.
The Sydney hospitality behemoth already waves the flag for a United Nations of cuisines, but word on Sydney's eat streets in recent weeks has its chief Justin Hemmes plotting a culinary foray into the Middle Eastern.
And given how Merivale presented Chinese at Mr Wong and French at Felix, it has a few pulses racing.
Hemmes confirmed to Good Food the concept has a green light and he has approached Simon Zalloua, an ex-Rockpool chef of Lebanese lineage, to front it.
There was talk it might go into the Hotel CBD site where Alastair Little recently decamped his Brit-French pop-up Little Bistro.
But Hemmes says that space is earmarked to "become more pubby" and reflect the existing offering elsewhere in the hotel.
The modern Middle Eastern eatery is headed to a new, soon-to-be named addition to the Merivale empire. And no, it isn't a pub.
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