Port Stephens is getting a new luxury 4.5 star hotel from Rick Stein

After two iconic Mollymook locations, Rick Stein and his Bannisters brand will be opening up a new 4.5-star luxury hotel and restaurant at Soldiers Point, Port Stephens. With a total of 80 rooms, including four luxury suites and a penthouse, the new property will make full use of its location, with 50 of its rooms boasting bay views over the Karuah River, with the rest offering forest and bushland vistas.

The acclaimed celebrity chef will be pouring a lot into Bannisters Port Stephens, making it a sure-shot destination for coastal getaways. Having a double-height lobby opening onto a huge infinity pool with a pool bar will surely help that cause, as will the food offerings which span a pub for casual dining and pizzas as well as a signature restaurant from Stein himself. The property will replace the old Salamander Shores hotel with a $7 million overhaul of the site.

“It’s another beautiful stretch of New South Wales coastline, like Mollymook, and we can’t wait to be working again with the General Manager Peter Bacon and Commercial Director, Alice O’Hara”, said Stein. “My wife Sas has long been a lover of Port Stephens area, and even stayed in the old Salamander Shores hotel when she was 19. When we saw the landscape form the lookout above Nelson Bay, we were filled with a sense of excitement to see an almost continuous vista of bays, headlands, peninsula and the open sea beyond”.

The same design team who worked on both Mollymook properties will be helping Bannisters Port Stephens shape a distinctive look and feel, so guests are guaranteed the same kind of immense and memorable coastline accommodation that has been drawing people to Stein’s Australian empire for years.

The restaurant will undoubtedly be a big win for locals and visitors alike. Stein is particularly excited about the local produce that will define the kitchen. “The abundance of top quality seafood is a massive attraction as is the proximity to the Hunter Valley’s wineries. I will be working closely with Head Chef Mitchell Turner, designing a menu featuring local king prawns, Yellowgin bream, flathead, calamari, and school whiting, not to mention the fabulous oysters”.

Bannisters Port Stephens is scheduled to open late 2018.

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Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.