Bathers’ Pavilion will once again bring the world’s best to Australian shores, announcing that SingleThread, the three Michelin-starred restaurant from Healdsburg, California, will collaborate with its team for an exclusive four-week residency from Tuesday 28 July to Sunday 23 August 2026.
Recently named joint No.1 restaurant in the world by French restaurant bible, La Liste, SingleThread sits at the very forefront of contemporary global dining. Led by husband-and-wife team, Owner Chef Kyle Connaughton and Head Farmer, Katina Connaughton, the restaurant has become a benchmark for modern gastronomy, seamlessly weaving hyper-seasonal Californian produce with the refinement and philosophy of Japanese cuisine.
Located in the heart of Healdsburg in Sonoma wine country, SingleThread is anchored by its 24-acre farm in Dry Creek Valley, where greenhouses, heirloom orchards, beehives and an expansive floral program shape every element of the experience. The farm defines the menu, the aesthetic and the rhythm of the dining experience.
The foundation of SingleThread was built on decades of international experience. Prior to establishing the Sonoma County flagship, Kyle Connaughton’s career spanned Los Angeles, Japan and the UK, including his tenure as Head Chef of Research & Development at The Fat Duck under Heston Blumenthal. Years spent cooking in Japan with culinary icon Michel Bras and in traditional Japanese Kaiseki restaurants instilled a philosophy grounded in precision, discipline and a deeply guest-centric ethos – a belief that every detail exists in service of the diner.
For four weeks only, the SingleThread team will relocate to Balmoral Beach, presenting a 10-course tasting menu, beginning with their signature Hassun – a kaiseki-inspired seasonal introduction featuring up to 10 individual, delicately composed bites, often harvested from the farm that very morning, and presented on an elaborate bed of florals. Designed to tell ‘the story of today,’ the Hassun sets the tone for the experience that follows.
Priced at $690 per guest (matching the SingleThread menu price in Healdsburg). The residency will run Tuesday – Sunday lunch and dinner, hosting 80 guests per sitting, an intentionally intimate, unhurried and immersive experience.
Owner & Chef, Kyle Connaughton, said: “SingleThread is about the dialogue between farm, kitchen and guest. Coming to Sydney allows us to explore that philosophy through Australia’s extraordinary produce while maintaining the integrity of what defines us. We’re excited to collaborate with Aaron Ward and the Bathers’ team and create something that feels both true to Sonoma County and unique to Balmoral.”
The announcement builds on Bathers’ Pavilion’s sold-out residencies with L’Enclume in 2023 and 2025, which attracted waitlists exceeding 2,000 bookings and firmly established the Balmoral Beach institution as Australia’s leading home of international culinary collaboration.
For Bathers’ Pavilion, the continued program reflects both the appetite of Australian diners for world-class experiences and a long-term commitment to cultural exchange at the highest level.
Jessica Shirvington, Managing Director, Bathers’ Pavilion, said: “These residencies are cumulative. Each one aims to raise the bar. We are committed to ensuring Sydney remains connected to what is happening at the forefront of global gastronomy. To have the world’s joint No.1 restaurant choose Balmoral for a four-week collaboration is something we are immensely proud of. We’ve demonstrated that we can deliver international residencies at a scale and standard not seen elsewhere in Australia. For diners, that translates into an experience that feels truly transportive – as close as you can get to dining at the source, without leaving Sydney.”
While L’Enclume brought Cumbria’s regenerative British terroir to Sydney, SingleThread offers a distinctly different lens – Californian seasonality interpreted through Japanese technique and sensibility. The residency will showcase Australia’s exceptional seafood and farm produce through that refined perspective, creating something entirely new yet grounded in place.
In a first for a Bathers’ Pavilion residency and true to SingleThread’s farm driven philosophy, Bathers’ Executive Chef, Aaron Ward, in consultation with Kyle and Katina, have begun growing vegetables and botanicals at the restaurant’s Southern Highlands farm, Rotherwood, with a team of expert horticulturalists. Aaron will travel (along with a kitchen and front-of-house team of three) to Sonoma to work on menu development with Kyle and his team over several weeks in April.
On the collaboration, Aaron Ward, Executive Chef, Bathers’ Pavilion, said: “This is about bringing the very best chefs in the world into our kitchen and working shoulder-to-shoulder with them. SingleThread’s cooking is incredibly precise and delicate – shaped by Japanese technique but driven by produce. It’s different to L’Enclume, but equally powerful. For our team, this is exposure at the highest level, and for our diners, we can’t wait to surprise you again.”
The beverage program will draw connections between Sonoma and Australia’s wine regions, pairing Californian and Australian wines alongside world-class Japanese sake and select Old World wines, reflecting the restaurant’s Japanese influence and wine-country roots.
This residency arrives at a defining moment for SingleThread. In March 2026, the Connaughtons will open their first international outpost, SoNoMa by SingleThread, inside Capella Kyoto’s historic Miyagawa-cho district, marking a formal return to Japan, while expanding their hospitality vision in Sonoma with a new boutique hotel project. Together, these ventures further cement SingleThread’s position as one of the most globally relevant dining institutions operating today.
For Australian diners, the four-week collaboration at Bathers’ Pavilion offers a rare opportunity to experience that momentum firsthand, interpreted through the lens of Australia’s exceptional produce and coastal setting.
As with all Bathers’ Pavilion residencies, the experience will extend far beyond the menu. The dining room will be reimagined with bespoke handmade ceramics, custom crockery, new art installations and design details created exclusively for the collaboration. Each element is carefully considered to ensure the experience feels entirely new – a fully realised, immersive event that diners have come to expect from Bathers’ Pavilion’s international residencies.
Given the condensed four-week calendar and limited seatings, demand is expected to be significant.
