Two chef moves in the same week have put fresh focus on the NSW South Coast and the kind of opportunity the region is starting to offer serious operators.
Last week, Alex Prichard announced he would step down from Icebergs Dining Room and Bar after more than a decade to open Sara Dining in Berry. Days later, Cupitt’s Estate confirmed Ryan Smith would take on the executive chef role in Ulladulla, relocating from Launceston.
They are separate moves, but together they point to something bigger. For experienced chefs with strong city credentials, the South Coast is becoming a place to build ambitious restaurants with a closer connection to produce, place and the style of cooking they want to do.
Alex’s next chapter after Icebergs
Alex Prichard’s departure from Icebergs is a significant one.
He joined the Bondi dining room as its youngest ever head chef and spent more than a decade helping maintain its standing as one of Sydney’s best-known restaurants. During that time, Icebergs continued to hold two hats and remained a prominent part of the city’s dining conversation.
Before that, Alex had already built a strong grounding in serious kitchens. He left home at 15 to begin his apprenticeship, worked at Lochiel House in the Blue Mountains, then moved through Momofuku Seiobo under Ben Greeno before spending time in Paris under Jérôme Leggard at a two Michelin-starred restaurant.
The move to Berry does not read like a step back. It reads like a chef moving closer to the kind of restaurant he has wanted to build for years.
Sara Dining will open at Moraea Farm in partnership with boutique accommodation group Linnaeus. It may be a smaller operation than Icebergs, but that is part of the appeal. For Alex, it looks like a chance to build something more personal and more closely tied to the region around it.
That thread has been there from early on. His exposure to a regional kitchen where technique and produce mattered equally appears to have stayed with him. Sara Dining now looks set to become the clearest version of that thinking.
Ryan returns to a region he already knows
Ryan Smith’s appointment at Cupitt’s Estate has a different shape, but it points in a similar direction.
His career has taken him through major kitchens in the UK and Australia, including The Square in London under Philip Howard, the Bill Granger group, and senior roles at Banc and Restaurant Balzac in Sydney. He has also cooked at events for the British royal family.
Ryan’s connection to the South Coast is not new.
In 2017, he joined Rick Stein at Bannisters in Mollymook as head chef, giving him direct experience of the region’s produce and the rhythm of cooking there. That matters now, because this does not feel like a chef arriving cold. It feels like someone returning to familiar ground.
Cupitt’s offers a strong setting for that return. The family-owned estate includes a winery, microbrewery, fromagerie and restaurant, with a clear focus on estate-grown and locally sourced produce.
For a chef with Ryan’s background, that kind of setup offers something many city kitchens cannot. It puts the relationship between producer, ingredient and plate much closer together.
What these moves say about the South Coast
Two established chefs choosing the same region in the same week says something about where the South Coast now sits in the broader dining picture.
This stretch of coastline has been building credibility for years. From Berry through Milton and Mollymook to further south, it has developed a stronger food identity built on good produce, destination diners and a growing mix of serious operators. Restaurants and venues across the region have helped shift that perception, while Rick Stein’s long presence in Mollymook brought early national attention.
The produce story is a real part of that appeal. Seafood, dairy, local farming, estate-grown wine and a broader network of South Coast suppliers give chefs the chance to work closer to the ingredients shaping the menu.
There is also a wider point here for the industry.
For chefs like Alex and Ryan, this is not about leaving serious cooking behind. It is about choosing where that serious cooking happens. The South Coast is increasingly offering experienced chefs the chance to build strong restaurants, stay ambitious and work with a closer connection to product and place.
That is what makes these two moves worth paying attention to.
