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Aussie playground pumping through the slump
By Peter Vercoe |
January 4, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DON'T tell the crowd at Ivy there's a recession coming. It's Friday night, and hotelier Justin Hemmes's US$98 million grown-up's playground in downtown Sydney is pumping. The year-old venue ?? with five restaurants, 10 bars, an English-style pub, an 800-person ballroom and a pool ?? is where the in-crowd go to mingle. Here, the world's woes don't apply.
Loud music is blasting from the ballroom. Employees of a big magazine publisher are celebrating Christmas at their "Get Wiggy" party, wearing garish hairpieces and not caring that their owner may default on its debt, putting their jobs at risk.
Upstairs at Uccello, Ivy's flagship restaurant, bikini-clad waitresses from the members-only poolside bar weave between tables, carrying cocktails and pizza, adding a hedonistic touch to the fine Italian diner.
Hemmes, whose nightclub empire includes Slip Inn - where Mary Donaldson met her future husband and heir to the Danish throne, Crown Prince Frederik, during the 2000 Olympic Games - says inspiration for the new venue struck when he was hosting a party for "300 of my closest friends around the pool at home."
"I thought I have to bring this to the city," said Hemmes, 35. "I set about creating my perfect house."
Some house. Designed for Sydney's sun-drenched summers, Ivy offers outdoor bars (complete with open-air showers), top-end restaurants and exclusive members-only areas. And if you want to stay over, there are two US$4,215-a-night penthouses.
At Uccello, Chef Massimo Bianchi uses quality produce for his southern Italian dishes. Chunks of three-year aged Parmigiano Reggiano punctuate a plate of San Daniele prosciutto.
Calamari in umido, slow braised with garlic, white wine and chili, matched our bottle of Petaluma's Hanlin Hill Riesling (US$49).
Mains also let the flavor of the produce shine through. Zuppa di gamberoni piccante is a spicy tomato stew packed with plump prawns. Costolette d' abbacchio alla Romana is simply four roast lamb cutlets in a white wine, rosemary and garlic sauce.
The pick of the desserts was the chocolate fondant, with its gloriously gooey, runny center.
Dining at Uccello is the closest most of us will get to the invitation-only Pool Club. Even if you had a spare US$1,405 to secure one of four poolside cabanas, you would still have to pass a coolness test. Attempts by mere mortals to join the exclusive throng were politely but firmly rebuffed.
The party never seems to end at Ivy. Downstairs, the change room doubles as a nightclub, complete with a disc jockey, bar, mirrored disco balls, lounges, and shower rooms spacious enough to accommodate two people.
Hemmes says the mix of nightclubs and restaurants is helping Ivy weather the economic slump.
"People are working their guts out and want to go out and have a drink, talk about business - and console each other," he said.
Loud music is blasting from the ballroom. Employees of a big magazine publisher are celebrating Christmas at their "Get Wiggy" party, wearing garish hairpieces and not caring that their owner may default on its debt, putting their jobs at risk.
Upstairs at Uccello, Ivy's flagship restaurant, bikini-clad waitresses from the members-only poolside bar weave between tables, carrying cocktails and pizza, adding a hedonistic touch to the fine Italian diner.
Hemmes, whose nightclub empire includes Slip Inn - where Mary Donaldson met her future husband and heir to the Danish throne, Crown Prince Frederik, during the 2000 Olympic Games - says inspiration for the new venue struck when he was hosting a party for "300 of my closest friends around the pool at home."
"I thought I have to bring this to the city," said Hemmes, 35. "I set about creating my perfect house."
Some house. Designed for Sydney's sun-drenched summers, Ivy offers outdoor bars (complete with open-air showers), top-end restaurants and exclusive members-only areas. And if you want to stay over, there are two US$4,215-a-night penthouses.
At Uccello, Chef Massimo Bianchi uses quality produce for his southern Italian dishes. Chunks of three-year aged Parmigiano Reggiano punctuate a plate of San Daniele prosciutto.
Calamari in umido, slow braised with garlic, white wine and chili, matched our bottle of Petaluma's Hanlin Hill Riesling (US$49).
Mains also let the flavor of the produce shine through. Zuppa di gamberoni piccante is a spicy tomato stew packed with plump prawns. Costolette d' abbacchio alla Romana is simply four roast lamb cutlets in a white wine, rosemary and garlic sauce.
The pick of the desserts was the chocolate fondant, with its gloriously gooey, runny center.
Dining at Uccello is the closest most of us will get to the invitation-only Pool Club. Even if you had a spare US$1,405 to secure one of four poolside cabanas, you would still have to pass a coolness test. Attempts by mere mortals to join the exclusive throng were politely but firmly rebuffed.
The party never seems to end at Ivy. Downstairs, the change room doubles as a nightclub, complete with a disc jockey, bar, mirrored disco balls, lounges, and shower rooms spacious enough to accommodate two people.
Hemmes says the mix of nightclubs and restaurants is helping Ivy weather the economic slump.
"People are working their guts out and want to go out and have a drink, talk about business - and console each other," he said.
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