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Tomi Bjorck's Bondi restaurant Blanca up for sale

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Grilled octopus, romesco and yuzu with brown butter from Blanca.
Grilled octopus, romesco and yuzu with brown butter from Blanca.Cole Bennetts

MasterChef Finland host Tomi Bjorck's ambitious three-year-old Bondi restaurant, Blanca, looks set to join the list of Sydney's restaurant non-restarters.

With the celebrity chef back in his home country and poised to launch a new restaurant there, Bjorck's business partner at Blanca, Samuel Cole, says the Bondi eatery "won't be reopening any time soon".

Blanca is for sale and Cole says if it doesn't sell, the costs of reopening will mean it will probably remain closed.

Chef/owner Tomi Bjorck at his Bondi restaurant three years ago.
Chef/owner Tomi Bjorck at his Bondi restaurant three years ago.Edwina Pickles
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Reviewers were taken by Blanca's high-wire act of Japanese and Mediterranean influences. "It's easy to lose yourself in the close company of the intimate room," the Good Food Guide 2020 enthused.

Cole describes COVID-19 as "the massive final blow".

"In Bondi you really need to have a strong summer, [so] the bushfires and the knock-on didn't help," the chef adds.

Cole, who has taken off in his van to recharge and check out the NSW regional food scene, is exploring his options, possibly as a private chef.

"But I love the restaurant life. I won't [be opening another restaurant] in the next year or two, but I'll be back."

Bjorck will also be back: the surf-loving chef and his family have made a second home of Bondi.

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

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