Sean Connolly heads up Adelaide Casino’s new restaurant

Celebrity chef Sean Connolly is leading the way on Adelaide Casino‘s new development with Sean’s Kitchen booked to open early next month. On Friday, October 10, the doors will open to SKYCITY’s new restaurant. Connolly has been involved with SKYCITY projects before, launching The Grill by Sean Connolly in Auckland, New Zealand, and running Astral restaurant at Sydney Casino, where he was awarded consecutive chef hats from 2007 to 2011. In 2008, Sydney Morning Herald named Connolly as Chef of the Year in their Good Food Guide. Although the space is yet to be completed, Sean’s Kitchen is being touted as a world-class establishment, with many quirky interior decorations and additions. A museum of ham, for instance, won’t be found in any other establishment. The focus of the Casino’s new restaurant is local produce, with Saskia Beer on board as well as Michael Erikson for Berkshire pork, marron from Kangaroo Island Gold, and sheep dairy products from Island Pure. “South Australia punches well above its weight in term of fresh produce,” Connolly says in a press release, “so it made sense to open a restaurant here in partnership with Adelaide Casino. I use as much of it as I can, even in my restaurants in the east.” Wine, too, promises to be spectacular, with the list curated by freelance wine writer Nick Ryan. There’s capacity for 180 people at Sean’s Kitchen, divided between alfresco, upstairs and private dining spaces and a chef’s table. Connolly has been filming the construction of the Kitchen for a TV documentary that will possibly follow the style of Under The Grill, which followed Connolly through the development and production phases of his NZ restaurant The Grill by Sean Connolly. The chef may be a familiar television face from his 13-part SBS series My Family Kitchen (2010). The full menu and wine list is yet to be announced; all will be revealed at the launch on Friday, October 10.