Australian chef Luke Mangan, who owns Glass Brasserie in Sydney’s Hilton Hotel and Salt in Tokyo, plans to open a Los Angeles branch of his San Francisco restaurant South Food and Wine Bar. To be called South on Sunset it will feature Australian and New Zealand cuisines and wines. He has further plans to open in Hawaii as well.
“We’ll be flying in fresh seafood and produce from Australia a couple of times a week such as lobster, barramundi, oysters and lamb there will also be a large fish tank full of fresh seafood,” Mr Mangan said.
“The decor and food will reflect the best of Australia such as our beautiful sunsets and wave-like curves in the ceiling and dining room. It will not be a tacky Australian-themed restaurant though, it will be classy yet not formal.”
The restaurant comes about four years after international restaurant developers Port Japan Partners bought a 49 per cent share of Mr Mangan’s Salt brand.
Evidently Australian produce is highly regarded in Japan, however their cuisine until recently was not well known. It is an amazing fact that Japan is Australia’s largest export destination for food; worth almost $9.9 billion in the last financial year, $2 billion above the US, the next largest market.
