THE doors of the former Bacchus restaurant reopen this week to a new dawn in the life of the old Mission Theatre building on King Street.
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The new restaurant and bar, Central, claims the name the building was given when it was built in 1903 – Central Hall.
The velvet curtains and linen-clad dining tables that lined the chef-hatted Bacchus restaurant have been replaced by recycled wood, industrial steel and delineated dining-drinking spaces.
Central is a Matilda Bay Brewery themed bar with a restaurant promising a simpler palette then its fine-dining predecessor.
Bacchus almost consistently earned a chef’s hat in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food Guide Awards until it abruptly closed last year.
New owner, pub and restaurateur Hugh Halpin, said he bought Bacchus because he wanted to take on a challenge.
‘‘There’s no other building like this in Newcastle,’’ Mr Halpin said. ‘‘If we didn’t reinvent it, it was going to sit empty.’’
Mr Halpin, an Irishman recently returned to Newcastle, his home of 22 years, hopes the new venture will bring more people inside the ‘‘iconic Australian building’’.
Newcastle chef Jimmi Hill will serve ‘‘simple things, done well’’, Mr Halpin said.
The menu at the 120-seat restaurant will range from steak to schnitzel to pork belly to barramundi sliders, he said – ‘‘Our version of pub food.’’
The bar which features transparent beer fonts showcasing the range of Matilda craft beers and ciders pays homage to the building’s origins as a Methodist mission with a church pew divider and Samoan altar.
Mr Halpin and his business partner Sean Blackmore also plan to open a cafe in the building foyer in coming weeks.
Central is one of a string of venues that promise to breathe life into the inner-city King Street strip.
A development application has been approved at 218 King Street for a restaurant-come-micro brewery.
Former Murray’s head brewer Shawn Sherlock has confirmed he will be a director of FogHorn BrewHouse. But Mr Sherlock, who will also be head brewer at FogHorn, said the venture was still at stage one.
‘‘It’s a very exciting opportunity,’’ he said.
Mr Halpin said the new venues, including Napoli Centrale pizzeria and the refurbished Lucky hotel were reinvigorating the area.
‘‘There are a lot of people living in town who want to socialise and then you have people coming in to go out ... it’s becoming a hub which is a positive thing for Newcastle,’’ he said.
