You can’t miss Sydney restaurateur “Big” Sam young. In person he’s larger than life – charging around the floor of his two restaurants, Young’s Palace in Potts Point and S’more in Castlecrag – like the boss he is, balancing plates of wagyu or Peking duck in one hand, fixing a wonky light fitting with the other. Online, he takes up just as much space, regularly posting social media content spruiking his restaurants’ luxury ingredients (the guy has never met a bottle of Pol Roger or a jar of caviar he didn’t like), and occasionally even taking sly digs at his rivals.
He ruffles feathers, inspires admiration and scepticism in equal measure and is unapologetically himself. “Lots of people love my style, but there are also lots of people who hate it,” he wrote recently. But, he added: “If you are loved by everyone then you are definitely not doing something right.”
His regular customers think he’s doing plenty right. There is no restaurant in Sydney quite like S’more, a curious little hideaway in a suburban strip mall featuring an amalgam of French and Chinese cuisines. Inside, the décor is so pared back you could be in someone’s university share house, but that’s a deliberate ploy to keep your focus on the food. Young modestly refers to the restaurant as “a local neighbourhood bistro” but in reality it’s a carrier vessel for the high-end ingredients he and his business and life partner Grace Chen love to serve, such as their famous lobster mafaldine and slabs of wagyu. The twist? It’s all – relatively – affordably priced. The concept works; the dining room is routinely filled with everyone from North Shore families to food influencers to grey nomads who’ve driven in from outside the city.
Young’s Palace is largely the same arrangement, but focused entirely on Western-friendly Chinese classics – spring rolls, kung pao chicken, honey king prawns – with a bit of blinged-up energy in the optional pre-orders such as live rock lobster omelette, or prawn crackers with caviar.
Young, who was born in Hong Kong and has worked everywhere from Mr Wong to Totti’s to Lotus, never shies away from reminding people that he and Chen built this empire themselves. They’re very proud of the spoils; their social media is full of first class flights, luxury hotels and eye-wateringly expensive premier crus. But when you meet him in one of his restaurants, more than anything, Young is just a guy in a T-shirt who wants you to sit back, relax and have a ridiculously fun meal.
Past winners of Restaurant Personality of the Year
- 2025: Angie Giannakodakis
- 2024: Sarah Baldwin
- 2023: Louise Radman
- 2022: Shannon Martinez
- 2021: Sharon Romeo
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