Friday, April 29, 2011

Palais 85 in South Perth

Palais 85, Perth's first self-proclaimed six-star restaurant which aimed to set a trend in opulence with an expensive fitout and high prices, has gone bust, leaving plans for a wedding and a FTV high-profile fashion party in ruins.

The chandelier-lit restaurant hit the headlines when it opened in May 2009, touted as Perth's first six-star dining experience. To acheive this Palais 85 seemed to do little more than provide an expensive renovation, charge $5 for a flat white and be brave enough to sign an expensive lease of premises with a wonderful view next door to seasoned professional Ian Love's 'Cocos'.

What does motive industry newbies to take on a venue which in my reckoning has seen atleast 5 spectacular failures in the last decade? The location has now seen the great opening and dismal closure of Palais 85, colourful bankrupt Warren Mead's 'The Oyster Bar',his ex wife, Linda Ross's 'Linq', Spegettis and The River Bank Restaurant.

The sad part is that Palais 85 never really made the grade. Lasting just under 2 years the venue should consistancy only in lacking. Thinking that my expectations were possibly to great, I turned to Urbanspoon to see how the venue had performed in the eyes of the restaurant goers.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/338/147455/restaurant/Perth/Palais-85-South-Perth

Going through the comments I am amazed at the hatred. The venue has an approval rating of 38% and I could find no one that had, had a good experience there this year. Not even an obvious one from the owner....

A spokesman for Insolv Liquidators confirmed Branwell the company behind Palais 85 owed tens of thousands of dollars to the building owner as well as to Westpac Bank and the tax office. Branwell spokesman Jay Daha said Palais 85 was sold in January and the closure was the result of the new owner, Mascot Holdings, failing to take over the lease. This has been denied by Mascot Holdings, which denied ever purchasing the business.

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