As Sydney restaurants gear up for relaunch, at least one of the city’s stalwarts won’t be joining them on the starting grid.
Efendy, the pioneering Balmain restaurant Turkish-Australian chef Somer Sivrioglu opened 14 years ago, is a confirmed non-starter.
A spokeswoman for Efendy confirmed the recent sale of the building. The good news for fans of the restaurant is the search is on for new digs to relocate to.
Sivrioglu is currently in Turkey, where he has become a household name as co-host of the local version of MasterChef.
When he returns to Sydney, his most pressing project will be the new venue he’s planning for the old Menzies site behind Wynyard Station.
“For now, the focus will be on [the group’s Barangaroo restaurant] Anason and the new venue opening in late November, and Efendy will be brought back to life in mid-2022,” the spokeswoman said.
He previously told Good Food he wants the eatery to highlight the lesser-known vegetable-heavy dishes of his homeland.
“You find lots of olive oil-braised vegetables on the coast,” he said. “I want it to be the sort of place you pop in after work for a glass of wine and some meze. We’ll have a Turkish version of falafel. It’s based on lentils, baked not fried; healthier.”
