MoMos and Spicemarket Set for $40 Million Grand Hyatt Food Court Redevelopment
Dean Lucas told BusinessDay a 300 square metre MoMo’s restaurant will reopen in November, and be accessed by a private lift on Collins Street. The restaurant will again be headed by chef Greg Malouf who worked at MoMo’s George Street restaurant since its opening in 2000 to its closure in 2006.
The Lucas brothers sold the former MoMo restaurant building on George Parade to a consortium which used it for reality TV show Fifteen, fronted by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
At Grand Hyatt, the Lucas brothers will also open an 800 square metre bar called Spicemarket, which will only be accessed by Beaney Lane, which runs off Russell Street and near a second hotel entrance.
Mr Lucas, who has been based at a restaurant he owns at Camberwell’s Rivoli Cinema, Mongusto Mamma, for the past two years, said there has been “no holiday” since the original MoMos closed, with much of his time spent designing and fitting out the new CBD venues.
He said Spicemarket will also open in November, but is booked up with corporate functions, and so will not be open to the public until January. Mr Malouf will also create Spicemarket’s menu.
Mr Lucas said his relationship with the Grand Hotel Group, owner of the Grand Hyatt, started seven years ago with a proposal once on the table to demolish a wall opening the hotel food court to the George Parade MoMo’s restaurant.
He said leases to retail tenants in the hotel food court, which expired last year, prevented this development from ever taking place.