Bathers’ Pavilion executive chef Aaron Ward has travelled to Sonoma and worked on menu development ahead of a four-week residency by three-Michelin-starred SingleThread, running at Balmoral from 28 July to 23 August.
California’s SingleThread will take over Bathers’ Pavilion for four weeks this winter, bringing its farm-led approach, tasting menu and key members of its restaurant team to Sydney.
Led by executive chef Kyle Connaughton and head farmer Katina Connaughton, SingleThread holds three Michelin stars and shares the top position in La Liste’s 2026 global ranking with nine other restaurants.
For Aaron and the Bathers’ Pavilion team, the residency follows visits by Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in 2023 and 2025. This time, preparations have included growing produce in the Southern Highlands and travelling to SingleThread’s home in Healdsburg to work on the menu.
A restaurant led by the farm
SingleThread’s restaurant in Healdsburg is closely linked to its 24-acre farm in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley. The farm grows hundreds of varieties of culinary crops and cut flowers, with its seasons helping determine what moves into the kitchen.
That relationship is central to how SingleThread operates. The restaurant’s approach is also shaped by Kyle and Katina’s time in Japan, with kaiseki influencing both the cooking and the wider hospitality experience.
The farm does more than supply ingredients. It influences the menu, presentation and rhythm of the meal, including the opening hassun course.
SingleThread’s hassun is a collection of up to 10 composed bites presented with flowers and natural materials. It is designed to express what is available from the farm at that point in the season rather than work as a fixed signature dish.
Translating SingleThread to Balmoral
The Sydney residency will not be a standard guest-chef dinner. The SingleThread team will relocate to Balmoral for the four-week run, with key staff joining Kyle and Katina in Australia.
Bathers’ Pavilion’s dining room will also be reworked with ceramics, crockery and artwork. Some pieces are being sourced from Japan, including ceramics used at SingleThread in Healdsburg.
The tasting menu will begin with the hassun and use Australian produce within SingleThread’s established approach.
Early dishes revealed for the residency include sea urchin with malted potato and yuzu kosho, Australian Wagyu with lightly cured Japanese carrot, caramelised mugi and short rib jus, and Satsuma mandarin sorbet with California bay and sun-dried olive.
The details show the balance the teams are trying to strike. This is not a direct copy of a Californian menu, but neither is it simply SingleThread’s name attached to a Bathers’ Pavilion service.
Aaron’s role before the residency
Aaron travelled to Sonoma in April to spend time with Kyle and the SingleThread team on menu development.
At the same time, vegetables and botanicals have been cultivated specifically for the residency at Rotherwood, Bathers’ Pavilion’s Southern Highlands farm. The growing program has been developed with guidance from Kyle, Katina and a team of horticulturalists.
That preparation puts the farm relationship at the centre of the collaboration rather than treating local produce as a late substitution once the visiting team arrives.
It also gives Aaron and the Bathers’ Pavilion team a direct role in shaping the residency. Bathers is providing more than the dining room and kitchen. Its farm, produce, staff and understanding of the local setting are part of how the SingleThread experience will be translated to Balmoral.
The challenge behind the collaboration
The most interesting part of the residency for chefs may be the operational question behind it.
SingleThread’s identity is tied closely to Sonoma, its farm and the relationship between Kyle’s kitchen and Katina’s growing team. Moving that experience to Sydney means working with a different season, supply chain, dining room and brigade.
The collaboration will test how much of a restaurant’s identity sits in individual dishes and how much comes from its systems, sourcing, presentation and approach to service.
Bathers’ Pavilion also has its own identity under Aaron, built around Balmoral, Australian produce and the demands of a busy waterfront restaurant. The residency therefore needs to make room for both places rather than turning one restaurant into an imitation of the other.
That is what separates the project from a shorter collaboration dinner. The four-week format gives the teams time to build a working service together across lunch and dinner.
From Sonoma to Sydney Harbour
SingleThread’s residency at Bathers’ Pavilion will run from Tuesday 28 July to Sunday 23 August, with lunch and dinner services from Tuesday to Sunday.
The event brings three Michelin stars and a major international restaurant ranking to Sydney, but the more relevant story for chefs is how the two teams make it work.
The result will depend on whether SingleThread’s connection between farm, kitchen and guest can be carried into a different country while still feeling grounded in Balmoral.
