Sounds ace

Surry Hills’ super cool Ace Hotel on Wentworth Ave will have a new rooftop restaurant called Kiln, launching in May.

Chef Mitch Orr (ex-Acme) has been appointed chef-partner at Kiln, which will be 18 floors above street level.

The menu will have a wood-fired focus, with flavours hailing from Italy, Japan and Southeast Asia, and will be structured around shared plates.

Kiln’s glass-walled dining room is slated to have views of the neighbourhood, with two terraces boasting retractable ceilings.

The restaurant’s name is a homage to Ace Hotel’s history as the Tyne House brick factory, built above one of Australia’s first ceramic kilns.

“Cooking with fire is the most elemental part of cooking and something every chef loves doing, whether on a hibachi grill in your garden or on a live fire grill that’s the centrepiece of the restaurant,” says Orr, who will be joined by local identity Mike Bennie, who is designing the restaurant’s — and indeed, the entire hotel’s — beverage menus.

The Surry Hills venture is the first Australian property for the Ace Hotel Group, which has cool and unique hotels across North America and Japan.

The local venue has a strong retro feel with felt wallpaper, burnt orange furnishings and even vintage turntables in some rooms.

47/53 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills