Paddington restaurant NOTA announces closure

Much loved Paddington restaurant NOTA has announced it will close permanently. The restaurant will run its last service on August 3.

Chef-patron Sebastiaan de Kort, who co-owns Nota with fellow chef Kevin Docherty, said the decision was a relatively straightforward one, dictated largely by end of the restaurant’s lease. It will provide de Kort and Docherty an opportunity to bring their team together under one roof at Newstead restaurant Allonda, which they co-own with sommelier Yanika Sittisuntorn.

“Obviously, It’s a very interesting time [in the hospitality industry],” de Kort says. “But for us, the lease was ending, and it just lined up really nicely.

“Everything has a shelf life, right? Nothing lasts forever. When we opened NOTA we were so young – I was 24, and I think Kevin was 27.

“For us, staffing is the biggest concern right now – the quality of staff and the consistency. What we would love to do is just get our key assets back under one roof. And, you know, we thought six years was a really good amount of time.”

NOTA opened in March 2019, serving an approachable menu of European-inflected dishes, and quickly became a hit with locals. But then the pandemic came calling a year later, with the restaurant, like many others, pivoting to takeaway and baked goods.

De Kort says he and Docherty were more or less sleeping at NOTA for a period.

“It was absolute chaos,” de Kort says. “We went from doing what we do to making meat pies. It was the weirdest time but to make it through that, we came out of it with so much positivity.”

They also came out of it with Arty’s, an artisan sweet business that’s still a going concern.

NOTA later expanded to take over a neighbouring tenancy in mid-2022, before de Kort, Docherty and Sittisuntorn opened Allonda on Longland Street in Newstead towards the end of that year. It initially focused on lunch and dinner service with a similar menu to NOTA, but has since expanded into breakfasts. De Kort says the numbers they have walking through the door at Allonda made it an easy decision to focus their resources on that restaurant.

“I think we did 130 people [on Wednesday],” he says. “We’re just not missing anything. Sure, I’m working constantly, but we’re excited with how that business has evolved.”

De Kort says with a sluggish economy beginning to bite into Australia’s hospitality industry, it makes sense to consolidate under the one roof.

“It’s definitely time to consolidate,” he says. “The industry has changed. The spending has changed. People are working very hard for their money at the moment, so you need to make sure you tick every box.

“But I think there’s still a lot of positivity. It’s been a tough 12 months but the next 12 will get better. It’s cyclic.”

“It’s definitely time to consolidate. The industry has changed. The spending has changed. People are working very hard for their money at the moment.”

Sebastiaan de Kort

For NOTA’s final eight weeks, it’s bringing back a bunch of menu favourites, including its Brisbane Valley quail served with sweet-corn polenta, beef bourguignon, and broccolini with anchovy butter. Sittisuntorn, these days usually based at Allonda, will also be making a return to the NOTA floor for its final services.

“It’s really exciting for us to bring all that back,” de Kort says. “It’s the perfect time to get out and turn the last page.”