Left: source – the Manly Pacific Hotel; Right: Short accepts the Most Outstanding Contribution Award at last year’s Bar Awards
Fraser Short (The Morrison, The Watsons Bay Hotel) is opening a new venue on the beachfront in Manly. The venue will be called Daniel San Bar Restaurant and Rooftop Dojo, said Short.
“It’s a Japanese rock and roll bar, so it’s an izakaya of sorts, reformulated with a beachside cool,” he said.
Short said that he and business partner Arthur Laundy are looking to plug a gap in the Manly market. The pair have some form in bringing beachside venues to life, having turned the tired old Watsons Bay Hotel into one of Sydney’s booming destination bars.
“I’m doing this in joint venture with Arthur Laundy,” he said, “and we identified that the site could probably be revamped. We’ve looked at Manly and decided that they don’t have a good offering of the type of thing that we’re going to put in there, which is casual dining with an upbeat bar atmosphere.”
They’ve got plans to open for lunch and dinner every day, with breakfast offered on Saturdays and Sundays.
The 350-seat venue — which will also feature a rooftop bar — is slated to open in mid-September, and will be overseen by licensee Jeremy Rockey (ex-Ryans Bar, 333, Woollahra Hotel).