Decorated chef Donovan Cooke has closed his hatted Fitzroy North restaurant Ryne after five years.
“It was the culmination of extended lockdowns, staffing issues and increased costs across the board that led to the decision,” he said via email.
A restaurant like Ryne is not cheap to run, given Cooke’s famously high standards and technically involved dishes.
He was part of a wave of British chefs – the Brit-pack – who arrived in Melbourne in the 1990s with traditional French training and legendary CVs, including stints under the likes of Marco Pierre White and Michel Roux.
Est Est Est, the restaurant Cooke opened with Philippa Sibley in 1997, sent ripples of excitement through Melbourne, winning Best New Restaurant in The Age Good Food Guide 1998 before it closed on a high in 2001.
Ryne arrived on St George’s Road in October 2017 after Cooke spent time overseas and at Crown’s Atlantic restaurant. He billed the smaller neighbourhood restaurant as a return to cooking in the classical French style that marked his early career.
But although it was consistently a one-hat restaurant in the Good Food Guide, Ryne never attracted the same buzz and excitement as Est Est Est.
Good Food’s former chief restaurant critic Gemima Cody wrote at the time: “Since opening, the feedback has been mixed. Hands have been wrung over whether it’s suicide or smart to go so against the wood-fired grain of modern dining.”
Cooke’s technical prowess was undeniable in dishes such as pigeon with grapes and muscat sauce. But the restaurant, with 60 seats in a cavernous space, struggled against its surroundings and an evolving Fitzroy North.
“It’s not been an easy decision to make. We’ve had some brilliant times,” said Cooke.
The chef is still considering his next move.
