The Keg/Vaby’s/Bonfire Brazilian Grill – Beverly Hills, NSW
On the corner adjacent to the Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant is the new Bonfire Brazilian Grill, but even during its recent past as Vaby’s Mediterranean Grill, the restaurant has never shaken its original name – the Keg. The boom in rooftop advertising in the area must have coincided with the opening of Kingsford Smith Airport’s third runway.
EXTINGUISHED UPDATE: As of late 2012, the fire is OUT. The Bonfire Grill has left the building, but it won’t be long until someone else gets in there and tries to make a go of another restaurant. Good luck…
ROCKY UPDATE: Aaaaand it’s Pancakes on the Rocks. Although in this case it’s a bit more like Pancakes 20km south-west of the Rocks.
Shell Petrol Station/Vacant Lot – Beverly Hills, NSW
Sitting beside the former Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant in Beverly Hills is a vacant lot, but based on the position of the driveways and the remaining infrastructure, it’s clear this was once a petrol station.
Someone has left several large boulders on the site. Oddly positioned at the corners of the site, they appear as makeshift paperweights, holding the lot down so it doesn’t blow away. Good thinking, guys.
HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT UPDATE:
New information has come to light revealing this vacant lot to have been a Shell petrol station as recently as 1992. Don’t believe me? Check out the evidence (sourced from the fascinating OzRoads.com.au) below. Note the fully operational Four Seasons Chinese restaurant in the background!
Shell servo, Beverly Hills, 1992. Image courtesy OzRoads.com.au.
Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant/Glass Wool Insulation Wholesale/For Lease – Beverly Hills, NSW
A fixer upper.
Before the M5 sapped the area of its thoroughfare traffic, Beverly Hills was once a cutthroat restaurant circuit. Culinary competition was fierce, with even the road’s primary supermarket eventually converted into yet another restaurant. The strip along King Georges Road is still home to a surprisingly wide variety of cuisines for south-west Sydney, but the glory days are certainly behind it.
That’s a Ming Dynasty automatic door.
Chinese restaurants are well represented on the strip, so it’s no surprise to see a corpse of a fallen rival rotting on the sidelines. The Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant, on the corner of King Georges and Stoney Creek roads, has the distinction of having maintained its chintzy Oriental decor even through its time as a “GL S FOOL INSU ION Wholesal” establishment.
The facade is in surprisingly good condition, but the restaurant itself is empty. The signage is pretty tattered, none moreso than the light-up sign above the shopfront.
The nearby footbridge acts as a Texas School Book Depository with which we can solve this mystery:
Back and to the left.
Despite the restaurant’s outwardly ramshackle appearance, we can at least take comfort in the fact the building must be well insulated.
EXPOSED UPDATE:
In a development only I could care about, the owners have apparently torn down the rinky-dink Oriental decoration, revealing more of this shop’s history. Behold:
Big John. That’s the big reveal. Once upon a time, Big John either owned or operated out of this place, and the only way they could hide his involvement (and why should they want to do that, hmm?) was by covering him up. But now he’s back, and the secret is out. If you ARE Big John, get in touch.
Past/Lives of the Near Future 