New start for art gallery brasserie
Christchurch Art Gallery’s restaurant – closed since the earthquakes – will be reopened by well-known restaurateur Tony Astle.
Astle’s company, Stealth Hospitality Group, will launch the new business by July. To be called Universo Brasserie and Bar, it will run as a gallery cafe by day and a restaurant and bar by night.
The new business will occupy a revamped space which until the earthquakes held gallery restaurant Alchemy.
Alchemy’s operators had planned to return after the gallery reopened in late 2015, but changed their minds. After unsuccessfully seeking proposals from new operators last year, the gallery approached Astle. Gallery director Jenny Harper said she was ‘‘absolutely delighted’’ with their new tenant.
‘‘We’ve been a long while without a cafe, but it will have been worth waiting for.
‘‘There are some wonderful gallery cafes overseas, and we want this to be a real drawcard.’’
Stealth is one of the city’s biggest hospitality companies and already owns four popular businesses in Victoria St: restaurants King of Snake, Chinwag Eathai and Mexicano’s, and cocktail bar The Dirty Land. It has signed up to take space in The Terrace hospitality precinct under construction in Oxford Tce.
Astle said Universo would serve counter and menu food during the day to suit locals, tourists, and families.
‘‘It will be casual, accessible and affordable, with an emphasis on local produce.’’
Evening dining would be ‘‘elegant and sophisticated’’, and offer a wider range of dishes than his other restaurants, he said.
The premises will be refitted in keeping with the culture of the gallery, and outdoor dining spaces added. Special dishes and events will be arranged to tie in with gallery exhibitions.
Stealth’s chief operating officer, David Warring said they were confident about extending their business at a time when some restaurants and bars were struggling.
‘‘Hospitality has always been a war of attrition. We are back to pre-earthquake conditions – the competition is back on.’’
The gallery reopened in December 2015 after $60 million of earthquake repairs and improvements. Harper said 400,000 visitors had been through in the last year, but numbers were still short of preearthquake levels.