Rebuilt Lagoon To Open Next Month

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday July 17, 2004

By ANTONY FIELD

AFTER months of hard work, and insurance difficulties, construction of the new Lagoon Restaurant is due to finish next week.

Work on the $3.4 million restaurant in Stuart Park, North Wollongong, began in November.

Proprietor Vania Harrison, the wife of former Wollongong lord mayor George Harrison, said it was now planned to open the restaurant in the first week of August.

"The builder will be finishing in one week and handing us the keys next Wednesday and then we will fit it out," she said.

The original Lagoon Restaurant was destroyed by fire in 2001 and the family's company Emibarb is still fighting through the courts for an insurance payout.

Mrs Harrison said they had been forced to borrow to fund the new building.

"We are now asking for damages. I don't know what to expect but we are entitled to the cost of the building, up to $2 million, and the loss of profit for six months."

Operation of the Lagoon will be a family affair, with the Harrisons' son Andrew, 25, managing the restaurant and daughter Jonni, 26, in charge of marketing.

Interviews are under way for most of the other 50 staff.

Andrew Harrison said it was an exciting time with bookings already being taken.

"I think what we'll have is a world-class facility which will not only attract local people but nationally it will attract customers to Wollongong," said Mr Harrison who became supervisor of the original restaurant at 19 and has researched restaurant trends in Europe.

The 278-seat restaurant will concentrate on seafood. The layout will include a separate cocktail-style lounge and a kiosk, which will serve breakfast and takeaways seven days a week.

Mr Harrison said European restaurants were very geared up for hospitality with more professional, efficient systems in place and he would incorporate some of these ideas into The Lagoon.

Mrs Harrison said former Lagoon and Treasury chef Nick Manias would not be working at the new restaurant but a team of chefs, including Mr Manias' brother Peter, would.

Emibarb had a one-year agreement with Wollongong City Council to complete the restaurant by June 16 this year.

A council spokesperson said the company had worked consistently to complete the building and the council was not concerned that the construction schedule had overrun by a month.

The existing lease on the site runs out in June 2006. The council will grant a 20-year lease provided the building is complete.

© 2004 Illawarra Mercury

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