Having launched Bistro Francais in February 2022 to much acclaim, Fabien Streit, Nazzareno Falaschetti and Baz Rampal are embarking on a second ambitious project, just a stone’s throw from their first thriving venue in Hyde Park.
The restaurant, which will be called Four Sides Bar and Kitchen, is a nod to the owners’ backgrounds. “There’s the three of us. Three immigrants. Three different backgrounds and three different stories,” Falaschetti tells Broadsheet. (The fourth side represents the venue they hope to create together.)
“I like the name because of the meaning, but also it doesn’t stick you to a certain style of cuisine,” adds Streit. “It’s open to whatever we want to do.”
That freedom is something Streit is craving, having recently spent time in restaurants characterised by singular cuisines (Cliche, Kosho and, of course, Bistro Francais). Even the term “modern Australian” might be too restrictive for what Streit wants to do with the new venue. Four Sides will be about flavours and foods that work well together – simple as that.
The team has taken over both the former Local Wine Co site and the tenancy next door. The extended space presented the opportunity to create a venue with dual personalities, with one area tending towards relaxed bar-style dining and the other offering a more upmarket feel.
“It’s still one venue though,” Streit says. “If you’re comfortable sitting on a bar stool and eating a rib eye, I don’t have a problem with that,” he says, citing the likes of Movida and Osteria Oggi as examples of this approach.
The bar is Falaschetti’s domain. Expect a cocktail list that’s much more involved than Bistro Francais’s concise spirit-based offering, as well as nods to the venue’s former life as a wine bar with a pre-loved argon gas wine dispenser that’s being refitted behind the bar to allow for over 20 wines to be served by the glass. Like the food menu, there’ll be no constraints on what’s on offer, and Falaschetti hints at a list spanning everything from sake to home-brewed kombucha.
Four Sides Bar and Kitchen will open at 165 King William Road, Hyde Park on August 2.
