While many of the details around Merivale’s first Melbourne venue aren’t yet confirmed, there are a couple of things we can reveal: the chef and the genre of food that will be served at its signature restaurant. Those answers are Jowett Yu and contemporary Chinese.

Last year, the Sydney hospitality giant purchased Tomasetti House, the seven-level brick and bluestone building at 277 Flinders Lane in the CBD, with a vision to turn it into a venue with a number of drinking and eating options.

The venue is a while off – it’s looking like it’ll open in 2023 – but it will eventually have a Chinese restaurant on the ground floor led by one of Merivale’s stars, executive chef Jowett Yu. There’s also talk of a rooftop bar and potentially a basement space, although Yu says it’s all up in the air. “We’re still in discussion and we’re getting the architect to work on the plans, so we’re in that process now,” Yu tells Broadsheet. “Nothing is really concrete, but we know it’s going to have a Chinese restaurant. It’s a big project.”

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Yu has worked at some of Sydney’s most influential and awarded restaurants, including Tetsuya’s and Marque. Marque closed in 2016, but some of today’s most exciting chefs passed through Mark Best’s kitchen – including Pasi Petanen (Cafe Paci) and Dan Hong, who runs Merivale’s no-rules Asian eatery Ms G’s and Cantonese restaurant Mr Wong. Yu says working in those kitchens taught him not to be opposed to borrowing conventions and flavours from different cultures.

“I was born in Taiwan, grew up in Canada and then came to Australia in 2005 on a working-holiday visa after I finished uni. I was about 22 or 23. I started working at Tetsuya’s, then went to Marque, then to Lotus and Merivale’s Ms G’s and Mr Wong [where he was executive chef], where of course Dan Hong was …

“There were a lot of young, driven chefs in those places. Tetsuya’s was a French restaurant but with Japanese influence and flavour, and I thought that was a unique way to approach what a French restaurant is. If I had an idea at Marque, Mark Best would say, ‘Why don’t you make it?’”

Yu left Merivale to move to Hong Kong, and for seven years he ran in-demand eatery Ho Lee Fook. He was recently lured back to Australia after receiving a call from Merivale’s food and beverage director, Frank Roberts, who told him about the Melbourne project.

Asked if he’s nervous about taking on Merivale’s first Melbourne enterprise, Yu seems fairly relaxed. “Yeah, I’m excited. It is a little bit unknown, but sometimes you have to take a swing and see what hits,” he says.

Merivale is a powerhouse in Sydney’s dining scene, operating more than 80 venues, including well-regarded restaurants Totti’s, Mimi’s and Fred’s, as well as a number of bars and precincts such as Coogee Pavilion and Ivy. Last year CEO Justin Hemmes said in a statement he was thrilled to be entering the Melbourne market.

“Melbourne is a very special city, with a unique energy and an inimitable soul. Its local hospitality industry is one of the best in the world, brimming with creative culinary talent and supported by a passionate community of diners. We are honoured to open our first venue in Melbourne and cannot wait to work alongside so many local industry greats.”

Hemmes will be hoping it’s more successful than Merivale’s aborted Melbourne home-delivery service. Set to launch during the city’s second lockdown, it was put on ice following backlash from the struggling local hospitality industry.

“Merivale choosing this time for its first foray into Australia’s hospitality capital is at best tone-deaf, and at worst opportunistic,” Black Pearl general manager Matt Linklater told Broadsheet at the time. “Now more than ever is the time to support local, otherwise … all the rich tapestry of Melbourne hospitality will be well and truly lost.”

In May of last year Merivale also snapped up iconic Great Ocean Road pub the Lorne Hotel. Hemmes also bought a number of other venues outside Sydney, including a couple in the NSW coastal town of Narooma.