Sam Lawrence and Friends at Gerald’s Bar

“I’ve followed Sam’s journey with close interest for years," says Gerald's Bar founder Gerald Diffey, "from his time working here in Melbourne with Andrew McConnell to Bones in Paris with James Henry to rising to be Ignacio Mattos’s right-hand man in New York and now opening a hit restaurant of his own in Manhattan. Having him come here to Gerald’s and cook with us, with our chefs Pete and Matt, with the incredible Philippe Mouchel, and to work with me and Mario for the day is a very proud moment, and it’s going to be a very good time.”

Sam Lawrence and Nicolas Mouchel (who happens to be the son of the great Melbourne French chef Philippe Mouchel) opened Bridges in New York in 2025 with their friend Josey Stuart, and it quickly became one of the city's most talked about restaurants. Judging by the fact that their Bridges at Cutler event was one of the first MFWF 2026 dinners to sell out when tickets first went on sale back in November, that buzz has clearly reached the restaurant lovers of Australia as well.

Happily for any of us who missed out on a seat (or just want to catch Sam, Nic and Josey twice) we've been granted an additional opportunity to get a taste of Sam's cooking and Nic's magic this festival as they team up with Gerald's Bar's Matt Podbury and Peter Savage, invite Nic's dad Philippe along for the ride, and catch up with their old friends, the bar's proprietors, Mario Di Ienno and Gerald Diffey, to share in the glow of their Yoda-like hard-won hospitality wisdom and savour the excellence of the bar's brand-new Lygon Street digs.

If you're looking for the pinnacle of the New York-Melbourne-Paris cultural exchange in downtown Carlton North, this is it.