The view of Port Stephens

Luxury boutique hotel company Bannisters will open a new 4.5-star property in Port Stephens, NSW later this year, featuring a fine-dining restaurant by celebrity chef and TV presenter Rick Stein.

Bannisters Port Stephens will occupy the beachfront site of the former Salamander Shores at Soldiers Point and will consist of 80 rooms, including four luxury suites and a penthouse. Up to 50 rooms will have bay views over the Karuah River, with the remaining rooms offering forest and bushland outlooks.

The property will also include a double-height lobby that will overlook a large infinity pool and pool bar, while a casual pub-style restaurant will complement Stein’s latest venture.

Pete Bacon, general manager, Bannisters, said: “There is so much potential in the Port Stephens area and it is a natural progression for us to take a formula that works and replicate it.”

Stein added: “It’s another beautiful stretch of New South Wales coastline, like Mollymook, and we can’t wait to be working again with General Manager Peter Bacon and Commercial Director, Alice O’Hara. When we saw the landscape from 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 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, Yellow fin bream, flathead, calamari and school whiting, not to mention the fabulous oysters.”