Jamie Oliver has unveiled his latest venture in Sydney’s CBD – Jamie’s Italian on Pitt Street. The establishment is an Australian first for the Jamie’s Italian brand of restaurants, set to open across Australia and New Zealand over the next two years. The groundbreaking concept has proved a phenomenon in the UK having already collected several industry awards for value, quality and design.

THE SITE
In early 2011, leading hospitality design consultants, peckvonhartel were invited by Pacific Restaurant Group (PRG), Jamie’s appointed Australian partners, to convert a dramatic site in Sydney’s Pitt Street into a fully functioning, open plan restaurant to cater for up to 200 guests.

True to all Jamie’s Italian restaurants, peckvonhartel’s design brief was to work in harmony with the existing architecture and locale. The chosen space hosts extraordinarily long and slender dimensions with two-storey ceilings. Formerly a restaurant and bar, the space was stripped back to the brick work and existing structure. By tearing out old kitchens, DJ booths and flimsy partitions, an immense dark canvas was revealed exposing a cavernous site with exceptional design potential.

THE CONCEPT
Working closely with Jamie Oliver’s development team, peckvonhartel quickly understood the Jamie’s Italian philosophy and conceived the space as an enjoyable journey for the patron whilst incorporating the brand to a Sydney context.

Sydney is developing a taste for “laneway culture”; alley cafes, tightly-squeezed sidewalks, eclectic vignettes, elevated areas and various bars and cafes are all part of this journey. To encourage repeat patrons and guest loyalty, peckvonhartel recognised that contrasting spaces and zones throughout the restaurant would form ongoing interesting experiences to keep diners coming back for more.

THE LOOK
The peckvonhartel team was flown to the UK to visit other Jamie’s restaurants to ensure they had an excellent understanding of the brand. What evolved was design concept that included materials sourced for their raw integrity, longevity and quality.

Muted natural tones mix with blackened steel, burnished and antique coppers, earthy tiles and vibrant leathers. The much loved French Tolix chairs placed throughout the dining area have also been used to great effect.

The colour palette chosen by peckvonhartel for the restaurant comprises fuchsia pink, ochre yellow, graphite grey, and sage green. Fuchsia was the risqué accent that is a Jamie favourite and works elegantly with the natural greens from the herbs and the raw steels. Sage and fuchsia banquettes mixed with glossy painted chairs appear in clusters throughout the restaurant, creating strong and playful contrasts to the sometimes sombre greys and blacks.

Merchandising and food display plays a large part in the finished product. There is a strong emphasis on richly decorated shelving that is adorned with fresh produce, books, Italian tinned tomatoes, sacks of flour and semolina, loaves of bread, and bottles of various oils to further emphasise the lively scheme.

ENTRANCE
From bustling Pitt St, the signage is intentionally minimal. The first glimpse of the restaurant is a curved glass façade inviting passers by to peek in at the action. On entering the restaurant, a fully operational pasta preparation station is staged where guests can oversee the production of ravioli, linguini, spaghetti and the like while they wait to be seated. The pasta station is integral to every Jamie’s Italian restaurant and allows diners to feel integrated into the live cooking experience. Blackened steel and glass fabricated screens elegantly frame the bright red pasta extruders, flour bins, and semolina troughs. Above the station, reclaimed timber baskets adorn the walls displaying multiple rows of artfully arranged pastas.

The pasta station is linked with a casual drinking space where the impressive bar top is clad in raw folded zinc. Stunning encaustic tiles that were selected by peckvonhartel from around the world are inset into the front and sides of the bar. The array of styles, Moroccan, Spanish, Italian and Arabic, sit beautifully in the context of the raw unpolished entrance space.

Custom made cantilevered wall lights illuminate the steel raised drinking station. Black gloss Murano brick tiles frame the wines and various spirits. A large grid motif is laid out on the floor, achieved with black and white marble floor mosaics and set in a large squared pattern.

Overhead, and something Jamie shows a very personal interest in, is a dramatically tiered copper chandelier. Adorned with hundreds of slender distorted pieces of glass and infused with multiple LED lights, the striking chandelier weighs over 150kg and spans 1.8 metres in diameter. Visible from the street, this beacon will attract customers and add a gentle glow to the front of the venue.

KITCHEN
peckvonhartel was required to integrate the tried and tested kitchen design template. Described by Justin Hardy, Jamie’s unflappable Development Manager, as the engine room and heart of the space, preparing an anticipated 1,200 meals daily.

Located at the rear of the elongated space, the bulk of the kitchen remains exposed with double height ceilings, huge exposed steel extractors, and walls wrapped in wonderful reclaimed local timbers. The floor is an array of slate squares and rectangles that flow from the kitchen through to the washrooms.

Guests are treated to an intimate view as they walk past the kitchen to the bathrooms, past solid top stoves, steaming pasta boilers and food runners.

DINING
Linking the kitchen and bar is the laneway dining area that snugly accommodates the majority of ground floor diners.

A dramatic seating banquette of vibrant fuchsia and sage green leather extends along mirrored walls, a stark contrast against the Iroko timber tables. Indigenous Blackbutt timber floors line the dining space while a horizontal beam hanging from the ceiling runs the length of the laneway, creating a cathedral like aesthetic.

Waiter/ bread stations are scattered throughout the restaurant, acting as visual displays in their own right. Durable and practical, the Butcher block inspired industrial tables are perfect for sawing through the many different breads available. Fresh Ciabatta’s, Sourdough’s and Focaccia’s are proudly displayed on steel racks above each station.
Waiters can dispense filtered tap water from the various Belfast sinks located through the restaurant; these areas are combined with cutlery stations, POS and further display shelves.

At mezzanine level an authentic antipasto bar allows diners to prop themselves up close to the chefs who slice and prepare cured meats, cheeses, pickles and gathered herbs, while overlooking the bustling scene below. A steel structure overhead frames the charismatic bar that is proudly lit with dangling jam jar lights.

To reinforce an atmosphere of authenticity, story-telling and quality, peckvonhartel sourced a unique range of vintage furniture pieces from local salvage yards and Sydney’s famous emporium of bric a brac, Doug Up On Bourke.

One of the most striking elements in the restaurant is the decorative lighting, which sets the tone and ambience throughout. peckvonhartel opted to display a superb array of fittings sourced from local suppliers (Contempo) and from around the world. Pressed steel marine fittings, glass well pendants, aged copper domes and vintage sourced original factory lights from Chicago help create the finishing touches.