The late talkback radio veteran had a table permanently reserved just for him, number 53.
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If you needed to get in contact with Australian radio broadcaster John Laws, there was one place you could always find him.
“If he was in town, he would be at Otto for lunch,” says Graham Ackling, group general manager of Fink, the hospitality business behind Otto Ristorante at Woolloomooloo, Quay and Bennelong.
“He would come to Otto for lunch and dinner pretty much every day, the entire time the restaurant was open,” he says. His last visit was just weeks ago.
John Laws having lunch with Kevin Rudd at Otto Ristorante in 2007. Dean Sewell
Laws, who passed away yesterday at his home in Woolloomooloo aged 90, almost always sat at the same table.
“He had an indoor and an outdoor table,” says Ackling. “He generally always sat on one particular table, but he did have one inside that was his, if it was bad weather.”
John Laws had two tables reserved for him, one inside and one outside.
The waterside Italian restaurant may have been conveniently located – Laws lived upstairs in a luxury apartment in the northern end of the Finger Wharf – but it wasn’t the only reason he kept coming back.
“He loved Otto,” says Ackling. In fact, he loved it so much that he bought it – briefly holding a majority stake with his good friend and property developer Lang Walker from 2002 to 2006.
Reportedly, when Laws heard that the restaurant’s founder, Maurice Terzini, was leaving, he said to Walker: “Wouldn’t it be good fun to get involved, seeing as we spend so much time there?”
From left: Maurice Terzini, John Laws and Leon Fink meeting for lunch at Sydney’s Otto restaurant in 2008.Steve Lunam/Fairfax Photgraphic
After four tumultuous years – which saw an exodus of staff and customers – the pair sold the venue to its current owner, Leon Fink.
It was during those years that Otto became a hangout for Sydney’s social set – a reputation that Laws helped to cement. His most regular dining companion was his third wife, Caroline, who passed away in 2020, though he also often dined with media colleagues and celebrities.
“Quite often he would dine with entertainment figures like Neil Diamond or John Williamson,” Ackling says. The radio veteran was not afraid to tell people that Otto was his favourite restaurant, even mentioning it on air.
Caroline and John Laws at Otto Ristorante in 2005.Jenny Evans
Though a longtime regular, Laws never had a specific go-to dish. “He would often have oysters, he would often have barramundi, but he would work his way through the menu,” Ackling says.
And then, of course, there were a few moments of publicised drama. In 2007, Laws famously left his table at Otto to confront his radio rivals Derryn Hinch and Bob Rogers, who were dining nearby at Salon Blanc. “He laid his hands on the table and said, ‘You are the two most despicable c—s I’ve ever met in this business,’” Rogers said at the time.
Otto’s carpaccio with aioli, baby capers and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ackling recalls the incident, but insists it was the exception. “He was very generous with his time,” he says. “If there were listeners, they’d often talk to him and get an autograph and a photo, he was always very happy to talk to people.” He also tipped well and “was very generous to the staff,” Ackling says.
For the first time in 25 years, Otto has now opened up bookings for table 53.
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Erina Starkey – Erina is the Good Food App Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously, Erina held a number of editing roles at delicious.com.au and writing roles at Broadsheet and Concrete Playground.
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