Former MasterChef judge George Calombaris is set to launch his first Adelaide restaurant, teaming up with longtime friend and restaurateur George Kasimatis.
The pair are understood to be planning a new eatery at developer Pep Rocca’s $95 million Orta apartments project on the corner of The Parade and Osmond Terrace in Norwood, due to open later this year.
Calombaris revealed the news during The Garden Feast event at the Garden of Unearthly Delights as part of the Adelaide Fringe.
The announcement follows a busy period for Calombaris, who recently launched a one-month pop-up, Auto Greek, at the Ovolo hotel in South Yarra and earlier this month revealed plans to open his first new Melbourne restaurant in three years.
He also sold Melbourne’s Hellenic House Project in February and is currently creative director of Harbour Hospitality & Lifestyle, the group behind Sydney’s Kurrajong Hotel.
Calombaris, a MasterChef judge from 2009 to 2019, saw his restaurant group collapse in 2019 after it repaid $7.8 million and was fined $200,000 for underpaying more than 500 staff.
Reflecting on the fallout, he said: “The most hurtful part of what I went through was being tagged a thief. There’s nothing worse than a human having the intent to steal from someone, that is just disgusting for me and it’s values my father, – he would be turning (in) his grave.”
“If anything, my parents … they taught values of generosity. You come to my house, I feed you. I see you on the street, I help you, that’s something that I instil into my kids every single day.”
Source: The Advertiser.
