Crows Nest loses one of its most divisive restauranteers: Stuyvesant House set to close its doors

In perhaps our shortest interview yet, the Lorikeet asks restauranteer Rudi Dietz what he has taken away from half a century of service.

Huw Bradshaw
May 23, 2025

Crows Nest culinary institution Stuyvesant House will be closing its doors after more than 50 years of service. The 221sqm property has been listed on Ray White for auction on June 24. The restaurant has been serving hearty, authentic German cuisine and wine from its vast cellar since 1973, when Rudi Dietz took over the business.

Stuyvesant House is known in the community as much for its food as the personality of its owner, Rudi. Different google reviews of the restaurant describe the owner as anywhere from warm, honest and charming to painful, inappropriate and invasive.

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Though slightly on the pricier side, this restaurant is worth it when you factor in the incredible service and atmosphere.

Hearing that the restaurant was now set to close, the Lorikeet ventured up to Stuyvesant House to ask Rudi about the history of the restaurant, and what lessons he’d be taking away from six decades of restauranteering.

Swilling a glass of wine in his hand, he told us: “Go away. I don’t have time”.

After the decades of service he’s brought to Crows Nest, we say: fair enough.

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