What cost of living crisis?
In an era when many restaurants are luring cash-strapped customers with daily meal deals and cheap, casual dining, George Kailis is poised to launch Gibney, a formal, high-end seaside brasserie in Cottesloe.
The contemporary luxury fine-diner boasting panoramic views of the Indian Ocean opens May 6 and already has Perth foodies booking tables into next year.
Kailis, whose hospitality group is also home to the long-running “classy but casual” Shorehouse restaurant in Swanbourne, aims to combine old-school luxury with modern cuisine at what his marketing team describe as the most important opening of the past decade.
The ambitious restaurateur wants a visit to Gibney to join Rottnest Island, Kings Park, Margaret River and Cottesloe Beach as quintessential WA tourism experiences while also being a haven for well-heeled locals and a special occasion option for West Aussies.
“We want to create a destination dining venue of significance,” Kailis said.
Of course, luxury comes at a price.
Wines lovers can splurge $12,000 on a bottle of 2020 Romanee-Saint-Vivant red burgundy, but there are wines by the glass for less than $20 on an epic wine list also boasting WA’s most extensive champagne selection.
Kailis Hospitality Group sommelier Nina Throsby recently visited France to procure rare bottles for Gibney’s cellar.
If they don’t hit the wine list too hard, Kailis reckons canny customers can enjoy lunch or dinner for around $250-$300 per couple.
“Gibney is — yes, we’ll use that word — expensive, but it’s an investment,” he said.
“You’ve got a team of local artisans preparing your food. You’ve got the best sommeliers in the state. You’ve got the best wait staff in the state.
“You’re in a beautiful venue eating delicious local produce of a high quality,” Kailis added.
“Is it expensive or is it an experience that is worth it? I think it’s an investment.”
Gibney is expensive, but it’s an investment.
The owner admitted that opening a high-end restaurant during a cost-of-living crisis is “not a great situation” but argued that cashed-up western suburbs foodies would “invest” in the Gibney experience.
Kailis added that thanks to the weak Australian dollar, tourists would also find his flash new diner affordable.
“But our target audience is broad.
“This is tourists, this is corporate, this is locals.
“If you’ve got the US dollar, the pound or the euro, WA is affordable.”
Gibney’s website almost crashed when bookings opened — one eager patron has already booked a dinner date for February 2025.
While the landmark restaurant is mere metres from the beach, don’t expect to wear your boardies and thongs to Gibney.
Diners will be greeted by the concierge, then guided to their table by the maitre’d before being served by jacketed wait staff.
There are few hard surfaces in the 600sqm oceanfront eatery, with fully upholstered furnishings, carpeted floors and interior design that spared no expense.
The four stunning Kooij pendants from Amsterdam hanging over the well-stocked bar cost $8000 each, while the comfy Tom Dixon bar stools with ocean views are worth $3000 a pop and the Vitra dining room chairs are $1000 each.
Kailis says that he was prepared for the project to go overtime and overbudget — Gibney took two months longer than anticipated, while costs blew out by 30 per cent.
“In this day and age of building, it’s not that bad,” he said. “I already allowed for a blow-out of around 10-15 per cent.
“To get everything the way we wanted it needed a bit more effort and work.”
Kailis is determined that his hospitality magnum opus will earn comparison the grand hotel brasseries of Paris, London and New York.
“Those were our reference points,” he said, adding that foodies should think of Gibney as the Louis Vuitton of restaurants.
While fellow fine-diners Wildflower in the State Buildings, Rockpool and Nobu at Crown Perth and 6HEAD on Elizabeth Quay all occupy the opulent end of Perth’s dining scene, none have the idyllic location of Gibney.
“People want to come and experience a WA sunset,” Kails said.
The restaurant is limiting capacity to 140 diners for the first month of trading while the team find their feet but will eventually seat up to 190 guests, including 90 in the alfresco area facing the ocean.
A coffee nook next to the entrance will be added in coming months.
Kailis is also reviving the Magic Apple Wholefoods brand at the former Barchetta site.
He intentionally bolstered his crew to form two separate teams to complete the Gibney and Magic Apple projects.
“I had two different brain trusts working on two different concepts — Magic Apple is a completely different thing,” Kailis said.
“That worked out really well.
“The intention with Magic Apple is to take it nationwide.”
Kailis plans to expand his fine dining empire with “something on the cards for 2025 which I can’t talk about right now”.
Days before Gibney opened to the public, the local hospitality veteran was like a kid on Christmas Eve.
“When your vision becomes reality, it’s like a nervous excitement,” Kailis said.
“I want people to walk into our venues and understand that it’s a Kailis Hospitality Group venue and appreciate the detail in the venue and the uniqueness of the concept.”