Lauded California restaurant SingleThread has commenced its residency at Sydney’s Bathers’ Pavilion, running until 23 August, 2026.
Operated by husband-and-wife team Kyle Connaughton (chef) and Katina Connaughton (head farmer), SingleThread holds three Michelin stars and was named the joint number-one restaurant in the world by La Liste in 2026 (sharing the title with nine others). Its philosophy and cuisine are built around vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers, and honey grown on its own 24-acre farm in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, supplemented by premium proteins, including seafood from Japan.
The cuisine of the Healdsburg restaurant (about 20 minutes’ drive from the farm) applies a Japanese and Korean lens to the tenderly produced ingredients, reflecting Kyle’s career which includes experience as the head chef of research and development at The Fat Duck under Heston Blumenthal, with noted French chef Michel Bras (also known for a love of dressing plates with flowers), and at traditional kaiseki restaurants.
“SingleThread is about the dialogue between farm, kitchen and guest,” said Kyle Connaughton. “Coming to Sydney allows us to explore that philosophy through Australia’s extraordinary produce while maintaining the integrity of what defines us.”
The Sydney residency is delivered in the same format as SingleThread’s Californian restaurant, following a 10-course tasting menu beginning with a hassun-style snack course of individual bites sharing the pinnacle of produce available that day, presented on a visually stunning bed of flowers.
“The way florals are integrated into dishes and presentations is our way of bringing the outdoors in — showing what today feels like,” says Kyle. “We grow our own cut flowers and also use floral materials from the agricultural process — bolting asparagus, cabbage going to seed, tomato vines, peas on the vine — highlighting the beauty in farming. We’ll work on ways to tell that story in Sydney, combining a sense of place with a sense of California.”
Bringing SingleThread’s philosophy even closer to the Sydney operation, Bathers’ Pavilion’s executive chef Aaron Ward spent several weeks at the Sonoma restaurant in April, while the restaurant’s Southern Highlands farm is producing vegetables and botanicals in consultation with the Connaughtons for the duration of the four-week residency.
“On the farm, we’re very interested in getting into local varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit that are native to Australia and that we don’t have in California,” said Kyle. “Our seafood sourcing is also very important to us, so we’re really interested in exploring the seafood in Australia. We recently did a collaboration dinner with Neil Perry in Copenhagen, and he brought pearl meat, which we had never seen or experienced before.” Over lunch, the team including Kyle told us that marron, Westholme wagyu and lemon myrtle were some favourite discoveries that have made their way to the menu.
Reflecting SingleThread’s location in the prized American wine region and ongoing connection to Japan, the residency’s drinks offering will span Californian, domestic and European wines with sake and uniquely crafted non-alcoholic creations.
The collaborative residency marks the third instalment of such experiences offered at the esteemed Mosman restaurant, leading on from visits from Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in 2023 and 2025. Following the form of the past residencies, restaurant details including ceramics, crockery, artwork and more have transformed transform the Bathers’ Pavilion dining room, with key kitchen, service and beverage staff also joining Kyle and Katina.
“These residencies are cumulative — each one aims to raise the bar,” says Bathers’ Pavilion managing director Jessica Shirevington. “To have the world’s joint number-one restaurant choose Balmoral for a four-week collaboration is something we are immensely proud of. For diners, that translates into an experience that feels truly transportive — as close as you can get to dining at the source, without leaving Sydney.”
It’s also a key period for the Connaughtons; their first outpost, SoNoMa by SingleThread, opened in March in the brand-new Capella Kyoto — marking a return to Japan, and a significant international expansion of their concept.
The SingleThread residency at Bathers’ Pavilion is priced at $690 per guest (a rough conversion of the price to dine in the States) plus service fee, and is available for lunch and dinner, Tuesdays–Sundays, between 28 July and 23 August 2026.
Bookings are available on Bathers’ Pavilion’s website or on (02) 9969 5050.
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