Mitch Orr is a man of many talents. But one of his greatest culinary gifts to Sydney has been, throughout his career, to repeatedly show everyone that Jatz crackers are some of the best – and most underrated – vessels for food. They were a signature at Acme, the Rushcutters Bay diner he co-owned and cheffed at for five years; then they resurfaced, this time garlanded with smoked butter and anchovy, when he opened Kiln, the Ace Hotel Sydney’s 18th-floor, fire-forward restaurant.

But now, after a great couple of years at Kiln, Orr and Ace are parting ways, and those Jatz are hitting the road.

“Leading the team at Kiln over the past two-plus years has been an incredible chapter in my career,” Orr said in a statement announcing the move. “I’m so proud of all we have achieved, the people who have made Kiln so special, and most importantly the community we’ve built around all that we do.”

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You’ve got till the first week of 2025 to book into Kiln to enjoy its current menu. Then, after a short closure, it’ll be time for the restaurant’s new chef-partner, Beau Clugston, to take over the kitchen.

Clugston is a NSW-born chef who’s cooked in internationally renowned restaurants such as Gordon Ramsey’s Claridges and Maze, in London, and René Redzepi’s iconic Noma, where he eventually worked his way up to R&D chef. In 2018, Clugston opened Iluka, a seafood-focused restaurant in Copenhagen. Now, Clugston plans on splitting his time between Denmark and Sydney.

“It’s taken me 20 years away from home to realise how good I had it growing up in Australia, with access to such high quality and unique ingredients” said Clugston. “There’s an entirely different alphabet of flavours to cook with.”

“I want to be inspired by what’s around me – both the ingredients, but also the incredible space at Kiln, which is so uniquely Sydney.”

If you’ve been planning on getting to experience Kiln in its current form but haven’t got around to it just yet, it’s time to get booking. Even if you miss out on the last appearance of those famous Jatz, you can rest assured that with Clugston at the helm, Kiln’s got plenty of tricks left up its sleeve.

Kiln’s current menu will run until January 6, 2025. Then Kiln will close for a short period until late January.