{"id":87491,"date":"2026-11-13T09:28:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/87491\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T09:28:22","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:28:22","slug":"strakers-nyc-the-australians-behind-new-yorks-newest-celeb-hotspot-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/87491\/","title":{"rendered":"Straker\u2019s NYC: The Australians behind New York\u2019s newest celeb hotspot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/p>\n

November 13, 2026 \u2014 12:30pm<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

New York: Thomas Straker\u2019s reputation precedes him. The bad-boy celebrity chef is known as much for his partying, feuds and impulsive behaviour as for his London restaurant, Straker\u2019s, his cooking videos with more than 5 million social media followers and his branded butter.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Brit\u2019s latest venture is, naturally, a New York City restaurant. Celebrities have flocked to Straker\u2019s NYC since it opened last month, just as they became a fixture at the Notting Hill original. For now, it\u2019s the hardest table to book in the city.<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead chef Luka Coyne and general manager Brock Heath outside Straker\u2019s NYC.Ben Sklar<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s at least one big difference from London. The New York outpost is run by a slew of Australians: general manager Brock Heath, head chef Luka Coyne, at least one other senior staff member and several servers.<\/p>\n

On a recent Wednesday morning, this masthead visited the SoHo dining room to meet the team. <\/p>\n

Heath, who grew up in Brisbane and was expelled from school at 15, combines Queensland casualness with Manhattan mania. He whips around the 68-seat dining room, pointing out the six Damien Hirst drawings (donated to Straker for the restaurant) and a large black skull by Brian Clarke on the rear wall.<\/p>\n

\"ThomasThomas Straker.<\/p>\n

So far, Straker\u2019s has hosted tennis legend Serena Williams (who attended the opening party), actress Blake Lively (who praised it as one of her best meals in NYC in 20 years), publishing icon Anna Wintour, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Katie Holmes, Meg Ryan, Michelle Monaghan and Benicio del Toro. \u201cWe have 40,000 people on the wait list and climbing,\u201d Heath says.<\/p>\n

Notable guests can sit with Straker himself at table nine in the rear left corner. The list has included singer Rita Ora, Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi, renowned chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and legendary restaurateur Keith McNally, with whom Straker seems to have a mercurial, love-hate relationship.<\/p>\n

McNally \u2013 whose restaurants Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern and others are synonymous with New York \u2013 ate at Straker\u2019s five times in its first fortnight. He even donated a piece of art, Heath says. Straker\u2019s is on the site of one of McNally\u2019s former restaurants, Lucky Strike, which closed at the start of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

McNally recently told Vanity Fair magazine that he loathed Straker but loved his food. He then raged at the magazine in an Instagram post, claiming the quotes were off the record and that he was going to sue \u201cVanity F—ing Unfair\u201d. Straker commented on the post: \u201cLove you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heath says the pair have an odd relationship. \u201cHe [McNally] says he might not like Tom but he\u2019ll eat here five times a week \u2013 which seems to be pretty true. And he still loves Tom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LukaLuka Coyne, who is from Sydney, worked at Soso\u2019s in New York before being picked up by celebrity chef Thomas Straker.Ben Sklar<\/p>\n

So, how did Australians end up at the helm of the hottest thing in New York? Heath was working at Old Mates, the Australian pub in New York opened by expat Eddy Buckingham and backed by a crew of Aussie celebs, when he saw Straker was planning to launch in the city.<\/p>\n

They met in January, and Heath got the job. Coyne, who was working elsewhere in Buckingham\u2019s hospitality empire, expressed interest and eventually secured the gig as head chef. As for what makes Australians a valuable resource for a restaurant, they agree: grit and \u201chard yakka\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Straker\u2019sStraker\u2019s opened in October and has enjoyed a steady stream of celebrity customers including Anna Wintour and Noel Gallagher.Ben Sklar<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s also that good energy, that good camaraderie,\u201d Coyne says. \u201cHolding people to higher standards. Pushing each other, but you\u2019re having fun at the same time. So you get the most out of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straker\u2019s publicist won\u2019t make him available for an interview, but during his call to Heath during this masthead\u2019s visit, he affirmed that Australians work hard. \u201cThey\u2019re fantastic, they\u2019re great energy, always looking at the positive and up for a chat,\u201d he said down a crackly phone line.<\/p>\n

Opening a New York restaurant was a logical step for Straker. He is quintessentially British, yet he is also an American citizen, having been born in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

His fame and lifestyle make him regular tabloid fodder back home: the Daily Mail had a field day in 2023 when it photographed him with Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece \u2013 goddaughter of King Charles III \u2013 outside her home.<\/p>\n

The same year, he was criticised after posting a photo with his London team, who were all white men. Magazine stories about Straker tend to feature anecdotes about wild partying or rueful hangovers, and pictures of him smoking. The contentious Vanity Fair profile labelled him \u201ca hot mess with the hottest restaurant in New York\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the Australian staff at Straker\u2019s have only praise for their bad-boy boss. \u201cHe\u2019s the most pure person I\u2019ve met so far in my life,\u201d Coyne says. Heath chimes in: \u201cHe\u2019s crazy, but aren\u2019t we all?\u201d<\/p>\n

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.<\/p>\n

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Close\"MichaelMichael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 13, 2026 \u2014 12:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. No gift articles left You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month. Close AAA New York: Thomas Straker\u2019s reputation precedes him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[332,407,389,408],"class_list":["post-87491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-dining","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-dining"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117608428598722947","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}