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Two-hat Bentley Group restaurant loses star chef as menu makes surprise shift

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Cite

Bolles, S. (2026, October 8). Two-hat Bentley Group restaurant loses star chef as menu makes surprise shift. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/watermans-top-chef-departs-as-menu-moves-to-greek-cooking-20261008-p613tz.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-08 · by Scott Bolles

Quick Summary

Bentley Restaurant Group’s two-hat restaurant Watermans at Barangaroo has undergone significant changes less than a year after its launch in late 2025. Chef Darryl Martin left due to differing business perspectives and personal health issues affecting his wife, while the restaurant shifted from an eastern Mediterranean menu to modern Greek cuisine. The owners, Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt, view this change as a positive evolution aimed at enhancing Watermans' focus and quality.
Written by AI on 2026-10-08, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Less than a year after its launch in Barangaroo, Watermans, a two-hat restaurant operated by the Bentley Restaurant Group, has lost its star executive chef, Darryl Martin. Martin's departure is attributed to both personal and professional reasons, including his wife's diagnosis of a neurological disorder and differing business perspectives with the group. The restaurant, initially known for its broadly eastern Mediterranean cuisine inspired by Martin’s previous Marrickville establishment, Barzaari, has now shifted towards modern Greek dining, as reflected in the updated website menu. With recent additions such as Ashe and Vespertine, the Bentley Restaurant Group aims to recalibrate its hospitality offerings, viewing this change at Watermans as a positive evolution leading to an elevated dining experience.

Written for “Restaurant Chef Departure” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Restaurant Chef Departure
Entertainment · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
21
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-08 · how these are computed

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Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 5927 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Scott Bolles
4 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 A dumb waiter will ferry food from the Ame kitchen to Loa in the basement.
🔮 Song Wat will be located on Mahogany Avenue near the new Macquarie Park Public School, which opens next year.
🔮 “We see this as a positive evolution, and believe the new menu will be more focused, more elevated and Watermans will be a better restaurant for it.
🔮 One of NSW’s leaders of paddock-to-plate dining, Zin Food + Wine House, near Mudgee, will close at the end of the year.
Also by Scott Bolles
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Barangaroo Barzaari Bentley Restaurant Group Greek Watermans

Subjects

Watermans ORG · 8× Martin ORG · 5× Barangaroo GPE · 3× Bentley Restaurant Group ORG · 3× Greek NORP · 3× Hildebrandt PERSON · 3× Savage PERSON · 3× Barzaari ORG · 2× Darryl Martin PERSON · 1× Marrickville GPE · 1×

Narrative

As Bentley Restaurant Group has grown – it recently added Ashe, a contemporary South-East Asian grill, and bar sibling Vespertine, both in Sydney’s CBD – to a group that includes Eleven Barrack, King Clarence and Watermans. The duo has also been quick to recalibrate the hospitality group.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-08
🔮 “We see this as a positive evolution, and believe the new menu will be more focused, more elevated and Watermans will be a better restaurant for it.
2026-10-08 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Two-hat Bentley Group restaurant loses star chef as menu makes surprise shift · assertive framing

Claims (21 extracted, 0 hedged)

Less than a year after Bentley Restaurant Group launched Watermans at Barangaroo, the two-hat restaurant has lost its star executive chef and shifted away from its broadly eastern Mediterranean food brief. asserted
restaurant → launch → brief
Chef Darryl Martin cited diverging business perspectives and family health challenges as reasons behind his departure, while the Watermans website now references the restaurant as modern Greek dining, with a new menu to match. asserted
website → cite → menu
Gone are Martin’s signature eastern Med dishes that found voice at now-closed Marrickville restaurant Barzaari before the chef was plucked to front the high-profile Barangaroo start-up. asserted
chef → go → up
Martin said his decision to leave was due to a “combination of personal and professional considerations”, including his wife’s recent health issues, which resulted in the diagnosis of a neurological disorder. asserted
which → say → disorder
“This disorder has left my wife no longer able to work, drive or safely be left alone at times,” he said. asserted
he → leave → times
“This has put ... pressure on our financial stability, requiring me to look at additional revenue streams. asserted
This → put → streams
“That, combined with different perspectives on direction and vision at Watermans, which I truly respect, I felt the time was right for me to pursue a different path. asserted
me → combine → path
I have a great deal of respect for everyone involved and look back on my time there positively.” asserted
I → have → time
Bentley Restaurant Group owners Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt described the decision to change the menu as a natural move. asserted
Savage → describe → move
“There was already a heavy Greek influence on the menu, and moving to an all-Greek offering is not a huge change,” they said in a statement. asserted
they → be → statement
“We see this as a positive evolution, and believe the new menu will be more focused, more elevated and Watermans will be a better restaurant for it. asserted
Watermans → see → it
At the time of Watermans’ launch in late 2025, Savage and Hildebrandt signalled they were fans of Martin’s cooking at Barzaari. asserted
they → signal → Barzaari
Hildebrandt said the combination of Martin’s flavours with Savage’s finesse and plating had created some early kitchen alchemy. asserted
combination → say → alchemy
Savage and Hildebrandt are seasoned operators at Barangaroo, having previously operated the award-winning seafood restaurant Cirrus, just a few steps away from Watermans, from 2016 until their lease ran out in 2024. asserted
lease → operate → 2024
As Bentley Restaurant Group has grown – it recently added Ashe, a contemporary South-East Asian grill, and bar sibling Vespertine, both in Sydney’s CBD – to a group that includes Eleven Barrack, King Clarence and Watermans. The duo has also been quick to recalibrate the hospitality group. asserted
duo → grow → group
In 2025, they sold the plant-based Yellow to the restaurant’s long-serving head chef, Sander Nooij, and his business partner. asserted
they → sell → chef
Later in the year, they closed Monopole restaurant and stepped away from Brasserie 1930 at Capella Sydney hotel. asserted
they → close → hotel
In August, Bentley Restaurant + Bar closed. asserted
Restaurant → close → August
The two described the new strategy as “pruning and preparing for growth” by focusing on restaurants they have full control over, and venues of a certain scale and size. asserted
they → describe → scale
As for Watermans, Martin said he was grateful for the opportunity and proud of what the venue achieved, “particularly earning two hats and being recognised among Australia’s Top 100 restaurants”. asserted
venue → say → restaurants
The chef said he was already working on consultancy projects and working towards “opportunities that won’t be considered until the new year”. asserted
that → say → year
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