Alvin Koh’s Singapore Heritage Restaurant in Sydney
Attention: Editor
News release
6th November, 2006
heritage 1
Restauranteur Alvin Koh, a
celebrity chef from Singapore, is opening a new restaurant in Sydney at a venue
which reminds him of his home town.
Alvin, who is internationally
famous as a former Mr Asia bodybuilding champion, has chosen as his venue the
Toggle building in the vertical village of St Margarets in Surry Hills.
He says the new complex of 216
high-rise apartments, shops and offices reminds him a little of the island city of Singapore and the Toggle
building reminds him of a temple there.
Alvin is the founder of the
Singapore Heritage Restaurant in Singapore and his new restaurant in Sydney will
have the same name, with the Toggle building being renamed the Singapore
Heritage Restaurant building.
Toggle is a separate, two-storey
building surrounded by the residential, retail and commercial buildings which
make up the rest of the St Margarets development at 417-445 Bourke Street near
Oxford Street and Taylor Square.
Alvin has leased the building and
has designed the restaurant with the help of one of his business partners, Henry
Seet, and architects Haughton Design.
They are fitting out and
decorating the restaurant and aim to open it in December.
Singapore Heritage Restaurant
will seat up to 150 diners inside and many more outside on the concourse of St
Margarets.
In the basement of the complex,
70 car spaces will be available to patrons of the restaurant.
The
former site of St Margarets Hospital has been developed by Rommark Developments
Pty Ltd.
A
director of Rommark, Boris Markovsky, says, “The Toggle building was designed
to be the signature restaurant space at St Margarets and we are delighted that
the Singapore Heritage Restaurant has leased the premises.
“We
believe Sydney needs a new destination restaurant and are confident that Alvin
and his team will create a spectacular environment with fine Asian cuisine,”
he says.
“The
addition of the Singapore Heritage Restaurant helps complete the urban village
at St Margarets and reinforces Surry Hills as a restaurant and entertainment
precinct.”
Alvin says, “We anticipate good
patronage from residents and customers of St Margarets and neighbouring areas,
and from other Sydney people and interstate and overseas tourists who come to
Taylor Square and Oxford Street to enjoy the nightlife and entertainment.”
The restaurant will serve Asian
meals and will be licensed to serve liquor.
Alvin says, "Food is a reflection of ones heritage and culture. Singapore Heritage Restaurant in Sydney will promote the cuisines and cultural heritage of Singapore in a deliciously eclectic manner.
“We
will offer a menu of tasty, traditional and innovative meals featuring many of
our own unique recipes; incorporating what is essentially the essence of
Singaporean cooking. I call it neo Asian fusion cuisines.
“Our
restaurant will be richly decorated with cultural ornaments and heritage
artifacts. We will provide excellent service and sensual dining at reasonable
prices,” he says.
“It will be sensually Asian and
a wonderful exchange of culture and goodwill between Australia and Singapore.”
As a chef, Alvin has been
endorsed more than 100 times over the last five years by Asian newspapers and
magazines and radio and television stations and by the Singapore Heritage Board.
He started the Porridge King
Restaurant in Singapore in 2000 and became known as the bodybuilder chef.
He set up an international
franchise of the Porridge King Restaurant in Jakata, Indonesia, in 2003.
The first restaurant became the
Singapore Heritage Restaurant in 2004.
Alvin, who is 1.5 metres (4 foot
9 inches) tall, is the shortest man ever to win the Asian bodybuilding
championship.
He has been internationally
famous as a bodybuilder since he won the Mr Asia title twice, in 1992 at the age
of 20 and again in 1993.
He is residing in Sydney while he
sets up the new restaurant.
Other businesses in St Margarets
include a Woolworths supermarket, two more restaurants, two cafes, a flower
shop, health food shop, an alternative therapy clinic and an art gallery.
#
Photo captions:
Bodybuilder chef Alvin Koh
Venue for the new Singapore Heritage Restaurant in Sydney, the Toggle building at the St Margarets complex
Singapore Heritage Restaurant in Singapore
Bodybuilder chef Alvin Koh modestly poses nude at Lady Bay Beach in Sydney
Media contacts in Sydney: Alvin Koh himself or publicist Wallace Baker – phone 02 9331 8196 or 0424542727 or 02 9416 7111; email chefalvin@heritage-restaurant.com or childoftheway@yahoo.com or wal@wb-pr.com .
Download photos at www.wbpublicity.com.au/shr/shr.htm .
Alvin
Koh, Founder, The Singapore Heritage Restaurant, No 46 Pagoda Street, The
Chinatown Heritage Centre, Singapore 059205; phone 6562254024; restaurant’s
web site www.heritage-restaurant.com ; Alvin’s personal site: www.chefalvin.com .
The
Singapore Heritage Restaurant
Toggle Building
St Margarets, 417-445 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, NSW, 2069