Atticus Hospitality ordered to repaint restaurant or face $6000 fine

Woollahra Council has ordered Michael Fegent of Atticus Hospitality to repaint the bright yellow façade of his Paddington restaurant Tqm. or face a $6000 fine.

Fegent recently updated the restaurant, turning it from Tequila Mockingbird, which he had run in the same location for almost a decade, to Tqm.

Tqm. follows the ethos of “fine food made fun”, offering creative South American-style share plates and cocktails. Award-winning Venezuelan chef Jose Garcia moved to Sydney from Buenos Aires to lead the kitchen, leaving a position at Brazil’s Michelin guide-listed Fogón Asado.

“I wanted to bring back the same passion and excitement I’d had opening Tequila Mockingbird ten years ago and I knew Jose was the right person to help me do that. I can’t wait to showcase his extraordinary, world-class cooking from our little part of Sydney and give our customers something truly unique and special,” said Fegent at the time of opening.

The restaurant is located on Heeley Street in Paddington’s Five Ways in a heritage-listed 19^th century terrace. Fegent reopened the restaurant on 8 May with a bright yellow exterior inspired by the Venezuelan flag, in line with the restaurant’s rebrand. Just two weeks later, Woollahra Council ordered Fegent to repaint the property, stating that the colour yellow “isn’t appropriate in this location”.

In response, Tqm. posted on its Instagram, calling on locals to share their thoughts. “We want to hear what YOU think of it. Let us know in the comments and we’ll pass the message onto council,” the Instagram post said.

“Looks fabulous!! Tell the council to spend money helping the homeless whom have to sleep in the filthy streets,” said one user.

“It’s Fabulous,” said another. “Cape Town, London, San Francisco all have multicoloured terraces and bring tourists to the area …. encourage more!! Is the paint detrimental to the Victorian building?”

Others speculated that the $6000 fine might be worth the amount of publicity the restaurant was receiving since the directive. The outcome remains to be determined.