The Old Fitzroy Hotel in Woolloomooloo will launch its new upstairs restaurant, The Fitzroy Dining Room, on 15 October, replacing the existing Bistro Fitz concept under returning chef Ben Richards.

Richards knows the venue well. He worked at the Sydney pub in 2019 as chef-de-partie under Nik Hill, now of Porcine. "To come back with confidence and experience in my cooking really feels like a full-circle moment," he says. "I'm so grateful to get this opportunity to be back in The Old Fitz kitchen and continue to uphold its reputation as one of the most cherished pubs in Sydney."

Between stints at the Odd Culture Group venue, Richards cooked at Ante, Cafe Paci and wine bar Where's Nick.

The new concept leans British and French, pairing English pub fare with what Richards calls elevated technique and a modern approach. The positioning signals menu engineering aimed at familiar, nostalgia-driven dishes rather than a wholesale reinvention of the room. "I learnt so much from Nik [Hill] and the team during my last period at The Old Fitz, so I'm really keen to bring back a few bits and pieces from that time to pay tribute but also bring a sense of nostalgia in," Richards says.

Launch dishes anchor that brief. Zucchini flowers filled with prawn and salsa rosa, beef carpaccio with kohlrabi remoulade, and a country pork terrine with frisee salad and English mustard all signal moderately priced, ingredient-led plates built on classic technique. Richards describes the food as "familiar flavours and simple elegance."

The room itself has undergone a refresh ahead of the relaunch.

Service structure targets multiple dayparts and use occasions. The Fitzroy Dining Room will open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday, with weekend lunch service continuing. The venue will keep its weekend bottomless lunches and add a pre-theatre menu alongside a Sunday roast — formats designed to capture both high-volume weekend trade and early-evening theatre crowds in the inner-Sydney market.

For Odd Culture Group, the move replaces a proven format with a chef-led concept that trades on institutional memory of one of Sydney's most recognized pubs. Richards' history with the venue — and his deliberate nods to the Hill era — position the relaunch as continuity rather than disruption, betting that nostalgia and recognizable plates will carry the upstairs room through the competitive Woolloomooloo dining sector.

The Fitzroy Dining Room opens to the public on 15 October, with dinner from Wednesday to Sunday and weekend lunch.