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Sydney restaurants switch to virtual venues and 'dark kitchens' to ride out lockdown

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Wingboy chicken wing and tenders, made in the kitchen of Bondi Pizza.
Wingboy chicken wing and tenders, made in the kitchen of Bondi Pizza.Supplied

In the brave new world of COVID-era pivots and pop-ups, there is a new kid on Sydney's eat streets: the restaurant that doesn't actually exist.

Restaurants trying to survive during lockdown have stumbled on the idea of the virtual venue. If the cuisine they produce isn't travel-friendly, or they feel they've reached saturation point with their cuisine, they simply dream up a new name and open an online-only restaurant.

Lorraine's Bistro opened earlier this year at the Robin Hood Hotel in Waverley with a big budget fit-out, adventurous menu and Michelin-star-trained chefs. Now, when you order online from start-up Wings 'N Burgers, the product is coming out of the kitchen at Lorraine's.

Mexican restaurant Tequila Mockingbird is opening a series of 'dark kitchens' across Sydney's suburbs.
Mexican restaurant Tequila Mockingbird is opening a series of 'dark kitchens' across Sydney's suburbs. Supplied
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The team spotted a gap for comfort food, plus the Wings 'N Burgers concept can be rolled out at sister venues in the hospitality group.

"Wings do travel well as a delivery item. The bone in the protein assists in keeping the food warm and fresh," says Lorraine's executive chef Clement Marchais.

Indeed, chicken is proving a hot item in the virtual restaurant world. North Sydney's Glorietta restaurant will this week launch a virtual restaurant called Chicken Paradiso.

"There's only so much pizza people want to consume," Glorietta and Chicken Paradiso owner Aaron Crinis explains.

Bondi Pizza is another venue that doesn't want to confuse its clientele, so it opened the virtual Wingboy chicken wing and tenders concept.

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Bondi Pizza and Wingboy co-owner Gary Linz explains the concept was born during last year's lockdown when they were looking for food that can be transported.

"Thin pizza bases don't travel well. We've since developed a sourdough base that does, but my partners George Williams and Mikey Brenton came up with the idea of Wingboy. We think there's also some opportunity down the track to branch into soup," Linz says.

Wingboy has become such a success as a spin-off, the virtual restaurant is set to put down some bricks and mortar roots, opening a standalone store later this year at Darling Square in Sydney.

Mexican restaurant Tequila Mockingbird is also jumping in on the action. They've taken over the kitchen of a currently closed CBD restaurant they declined to name to launch a "dark" kitchen, and will soon expand to other suburbs to offer wider delivery across the inner west, inner south and lower north shore.

Later this year the company will also open an online bottleshop specialising in tequila and mescal. It'll be a mix of old and new. They've taken a space on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst.

"It'll be displayed there but you'll order online," a spokeswoman for Tequila Mockingbird told Good Food.

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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