Pioneer of duck confit, Onde restaurant, to fly no longer

The Darlinghurst restaurant that once ushered in a city-wide invasion of duck confit will shut its doors early in October after a 21-year run.

Ironically Onde is bowing out at the very time the Harbour City is wholeheartedly embracing the model the restaurant prototyped: high quality food with an accessible price tag and cool but relaxed surrounds.

"Everyone is saying the same thing, the last six months in Sydney have been tough," says owner Simone Lai.

"But there are lots of reasons. The demographics of Darlinghurst are changing. It's harder to park. It has taken a while, but the knock-on from the lock-out laws, plus the difficulty in finding staff, and the chef leaving speaks to me that it's time," she adds.

When Lai and the talented ex Berowra Waters Inn chef Laif Etournaud opened Onde, Sydney dining was a different beast.

"The room was full of cigarette smoke and one of the staff used to park his Monaro out the front of the restaurant so customers waiting for a table could sit in it and we'd run glasses of wine out to them," Lai recalls.

Onde brought a wave of duck confit to the city, and when other venues ditched it for the latest trend Onde stuck hard, ploughing through 250,000 duck legs over the past two decades.

The restaurant was a magnet for the food industry and had a reputation as a first date venue to the point where staff would offer regulars an approving thumbs-up.

Lai recalls one customer boycotting Onde for two years after a succession of relationships nose-dived after eating there.

"Finally he came back in with his then girlfriend, now wife and the curse was broken," she says.

The unflinching interior and Onde typeface felt untouchable and timeless, but Sydney is a competitive food beast and Lai acknowledges there is a lot of competition, particularly at the end of the market Onde pioneered.