Mitch Orr To Head Up the Kitchens at Soon-To-Open Paddington Hotel

The scaffolding covering the corner of Oxford and South streets has been there for nearly a decade. But now there’s a team at work behind it , preparing to open Australia’s first 25 Hours hotel: 25 Hours Hotel The Olympia. Studio Paskin , the London hospitality group, is coming along too. And celebrated local chef Mitch Orr (ex-Acme, Kiln) has just joined as executive chef.

“It’s exciting. It’s always fun to do openings, especially with companies [where] it’s their first time in Australia,” Orr tells Broadsheet. “It’s good to be a part of that and be able to help them fit into the Sydney landscape, and have that influence to help guide them to become a part of the local community.”

By the time the hotel opens in spring, there will be three venues across the ground floor: restaurant and bar The Palomar, mornings-only cafe Jacob the Angel, and cocktail bar The Mulwray. Each will have its own entrance off Oxford Street.

This trio is being looked after by the Studio Paskin team, led by sibling founders Zoe and Layo Paskin. “They’re so passionate and engaged in what they do. It’s interesting that Layo started in music, they started a nightclub and it’s morphed into hospitality – still engaging with community and creating these spaces that everyone’s welcome to come and be a part of. I think we see hospitality very similarly.”

R&D chefs in London are working on the downstairs menus, with input from Orr. Then a head chef will be locked in to deliver the vision. “We also want them to have ownership and to influence what we’re doing, very similar to the power and ownership I gave Mans [Engberg] at Kiln. We want them to feel like the restaurant is theirs as well – drive specials, menu changes, all that kind of stuff.”

Upstairs is where Orr will do his own thing. Monica, the indoor-outdoor rooftop dining space, falls into the is-it-a-restaurant-or-is-it-a-bar territory. “It’ll be snack-heavy. West Hollywood, California is the brief, but that doesn’t really mean anything other than working with small producers, being seasonal, light and fresh flavours – which is all of my food anyway. So I think that’s a really good, natural fit.”

Expect to dine on lots of seafood and veggies, from the small producers Orr loves working with, overlooking “a good portion of the Harbour Bridge” and over to the eastern suburbs.

And what about the Orr signature ? That anchovy-topped Jatz. “They should appear somewhere. I’m working on what that might look like – I might take a little bit of a different tactic. It might be like a crab dip or smoked trout dip served with Hatz, or something like that. Rather than just Jatz on a plate with a topping.”

The chef’s local know-how will extend to DJs too: “Those extra bits and pieces that add to the culture of the city and that will add to the culture of the building.”

25 Hours Hotel The Olympia and its four dining venues are slated to open at 1 Oxford Street, Paddington, in spring 2025.

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