Sean Connolly
Born in England (he still has a Leeds accent), Sean has wanted to cook, ever since he found out how to make a home‐made apple pie at school when he was twelve years old. Arriving in Sydney for a holiday in 1988, Sean fell in love with Australia and remained permanently. For the past ten years he has headed the Astral Restaurant, one of Sydney’s top restaurants. In 2008 & 2009 Sean was named Chef of The year by The Australian Hotel Association & GQ Magazine. Now Sean wants the challenge of setting up a successful restaurant in a new territory. For the first time in this award‐winning chef’s life he gets to design his dream –everything from décor to dining plates.
The restaurant will bear his name and he wants everything about it to be perfect. Once the doors open on this restaurant the pressure doesn’t stop. Sean’s reputation is riding on the success of this project. If he can’t make it happen then he’ll be relegated back to the kitchen, he’ll be cooking for someone else, and it will be a long time, if ever, that he’ll get an opportunity like this again. Sean is passionate about his food, and believes when food is made with love you can taste the difference.
He’s runs his kitchen very strictly, but is passionate, humorous, open and extremely talkative.