The great steak wars of Sydney are set to erupt with news that the Chophouse restaurant has sold to the Solotel Group.
Sources report the deal was sealed Thursday night.
Solotel is the hospitality group led by Bruce Solomon that merged with celebrity chef Matt Moran's MorSol in May. Combined, the Solotel Group manages more than 20 pubs and restaurants in Sydney and Brisbane.
Located in Bligh St, Sydney, the Chophouse will now give Moran a venue within knife-throwing distance of Neil Perry's flagship steak joint, Rockpool Bar & Grill.
Rumours of the purchase were circulating last week, reported in Rear Window, and subsequently hosed down by Moran.
The Chophouse was the only one of the Keystone Hospitality Group's collection of venues which was not sold to Dixon Hospitality last month. Keystone famously went to the wall in June after failing to renegotiate lending arrangements with financiers KKR and Olympus Capital.
Whether or not the new owners of the Chophouse decide to stay true to the restaurant's red meat origins remains to be seen.
Solotel's other venues include Moran's fine diners Aria Sydney and Aria Brisbane, Chiswick, Opera Bar and an eclectic group of Sydney pubs including The Sheaf, the Darlo Bar, The Clock and The Courthouse.
Last month, Perry sold his own brace of restaurants - including Rockpool, Melbourne's Rosetta and his Spice Temples - to Chris Hadley's Quadrant Private Equity for $65 million, to be folded into the Urban Purveyor Group collection of venues.
Let the food fight begin ...
