Paul Farag resurfaces with a residency at Darley's
Eight months after leaving Sydney's Aalia, the chef opens a six-week pop-up in the Blue Mountains, pairing Egyptian flavours with produce from the hills around him.
Paul Farag, who left Sydney's Aalia as executive chef in March, has resurfaced with a six-week residency at Darley's, the restaurant inside the Lilianfels estate in the Blue Mountains.
The Residence: Paul Farag at Darley's runs from 11 November to 20 December, with lunch served Friday to Sunday and dinner Wednesday to Saturday. It is Farag's first kitchen since stepping away from Aalia, the modern Middle Eastern restaurant in Sydney's CBD that Gourmet Traveller named NSW Restaurant of the Year in 2023 under his watch.
At Aalia, Farag built dishes around research into 10th-century Arabic cookbooks and his own Egyptian heritage, much of it cooked over an ironbark and charcoal grill sourced from the Blue Mountains themselves.
I want guests to come and experience a different side of Darley's.
Farag's six weeks at Darley's
The residency follows a three-course format priced from A$130 a head: a mezze selection, a choice of main with sides, and a choice of dessert. Diners can add oysters, a steak of the day or a whole John Dory with brown butter, lemon and herbs.
Darley's occupies the former summer house of Sir Frederick Darley within Lilianfels, an 1889 property with 89 rooms that reopened this year after a renovation under Salter Brothers Hospitality's Ardour Hotels & Estates brand.
What's on the menu
Dishes include raw tuna with burghul and herbs wrapped in a sesame leaf, and a roasted red pepper and salted macadamia sauce served with a wholewheat pita fermented for 24 hours. Mains run to a dry-aged duck breast with walnut and pomegranate, closing with an almond cake set with fenugreek and vanilla cream.
"I want guests to come and experience a different side of Darley's," Farag said of the menu, which he describes as pairing the flavours of his Egyptian heritage with produce from the mountains around him.
Matthew Butcher, Salter Brothers Hospitality's director of food and creative experiences, called Farag "one of the most exciting cooks in the country" in confirming the booking.
Farag's reliance on fire follows a wider turn toward the grill at the top of the industry: this year's best restaurant in the world cooks almost everything over embers, and 2026's best female chef award went to another cook who built her name on open flame.
Esca Group, which owns Aalia, has not named a permanent replacement for Farag. For now, the Blue Mountains have the only kitchen he is running.
