Project Team

design: Luchetti Krelle

Suppliers

furniture: Kezu, Coco Republic,Hughes Commercial Furniture,Thonet, Boyd Blue, Doug Up On Bourke
lighting: Inlite, Wombat Hollows
music: Nightlife

The Cut Bar & Grill represents a modern take on a typical club style meat restaurant. The intention for the fit out was to be more daring and playful in an attempt to stand out and be noticed within Sydney’s flourishing restaurant scene, and in particular meat restaurant scene.

The design is a response to an internationally inspired menu and the historical surrounds within which The Cut can be found in Sydney’s The Rocks. Located in the Argyle precinct The Cut takes its name from the underpass hewn from solid sandstone by early convict settlers. The restaurant highlights and explores the site’s working industrial past life. Steel hooks, chains and wheels are the perfect accompaniment to the sandstone walls and solid timber columns that were original to the site.

A combination of reclaimed industrial items from Doug Up on Bourke as well as new furniture with customised components sourced directly from a range of overseas wholesalers, Ke-Zu, Thonet and Hughes Commercial Furniture provide a balance between new and old. Hughes supplied the custom banquets and Medaillon bar stools.

Because of the difficulties presented by the site, such as uneven ceiling heights and column spacing and being limited to not fixing anything to original walls, columns, posts and beams, the only solution was to customise much of the furniture and fittings. Custom butcher’s block and marble table tops sit on bases appropriated from tables from Boyd Blue. Architectural lighting from Inlite had to be redesigned while all of the pendants were handmade by Wombat Hollows.

The distinguishing characteristic of The Cut is its design with a ‘twist’. Gentle surprises are offered over obvious clichés through design details that are revealed throughout the visit. The aim was for the diner to have a delightful time, to enjoy every aspect of their dining experience from arrival to when they pay their bill. Their journey begins at a black and white image of a butcher shop from days gone by, they must then pass the hanging meat hooks and luxe magenta curtains, beyond the marble and steel bar set against glassed in a light washed original sandstone to an individually customised dining setting before stumbling past the hand drawn library complete with cookbooks, cow skulls and fake doors before entering the bathrooms with meat cleavers lodged in the doors as handles.

While working within a site steeped in history was an opportunity not to be missed it also provided a major challenge. To be sensitive to the heritage building while also adding a new layer of context and adapting the site to contain a working restaurant, bar and kitchen, meant careful planning and constant communication with heritage architects and the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. The result is a new restaurant and bar that sit harmoniously in a building built over 170 years ago revealing the Argyle precinct’s next incarnation as a dining hotspot.

Nightlife manages music across Bavarian Beer Café group, including their new development The Cut Bar and Grill. With a number of venues operated by the group in the same precinct Nightlife is able to ensure that the music offering at each site is unique – so that there is a clear difference in the musical experience from venue to venue.

At Cut Bar the original brief was for an upmarket mix of sophisticated grooves with a blend of boutique house, cool jazz and vintage soul. The team at Nightlife worked closely with General Manager, Bruno Loosli in the design stage to pull together the brief, and then continued to fine tune the mix after the venue was up and running. The music at Cut is updated every fortnight to make sure things are kept fresh.

Medaillon Bar Stool

Suitable for indoor areas. European Beech frame. Also available in Natural, Cherry, Walnut, Dark Walnut
or Wenge. Custom stain available.
Custom fabric available.

Hughes Commercial Furniture

medaillon1