Turn Of The Century

Can’t get into Fred’s? The new Hotel Centennial keeps it in the family, writes PAT NOURSE.

- Pat Nourse

Fred’s Lite? Taking quick stock of the demographic across the big, buzzy open dining room, it’s almost tempting to dub the new incarnation of this landmark glam gastropub Fred’s Grey Label: cashed-up Woollahraites are here in force, crisply ironed and swaddled in cashmere and linen. And since Danielle Alvarez and Ben Greeno, the wunderkinds behind the food of restaurant-of-the-moment Fred’s, took over the menu late last year, there’s been substance to match the style.

Our waitress tells us that the Merivale group, which hoovered up the Centennial in its latest hotel-buying spree, picked up the keys on a Tuesday last December and then opened the doors on the Wednesday. The pub was refurbished only a couple of years ago by its previous owners, the Medich family, and that look is still largely intact, gleaming and airy.