The 2016 SMH Good Food Guide was released a few weeks back.Here's a few words on all of them:
THREE HATS
The Bridge Room
It is winning all the hats and the awards and the accolades at the moment. I went there earlier this year to celebrate my wedding anniversary and wrote about it here.
You should read the link, but if you don't have time, here's a short version: I don't get the hype.
Quay
Went about four years ago. I think Quay had the best individual moments of any fine dining experience I've ever had, including one course that is possibly still the best thing I've ever eaten. It was this decadent squid pasta with lobster dish that has probably been cycled on-and-off the menu half a dozen times since.
Yet while the peaks were very high, Quay lacked the overall consistency of some other degustations I've eaten. I remember one dessert kind of missing the mark, while the other was a spectacular variation of the Masterchef famous snow egg. On the night I went there was some slightly dodgy service too - a giggly waiter, and the promise of more bread that never arrived.
TWO HATS
ARIA
Just went to Let's Do Lunch there as part of Good Food Month in October. It's hard to fairly gauge a restaurant based on a $38 one-course deal that comes with a complimentary glass of wine from the event sponsor. Even when you supplement it with a side and a dessert.
It was good enough that I'd want to go back for the full experience some day.
Bentley Restaurant & Bar
Went for a long lunch, when it was in Surry Hills rather than the CBD. From memory, the food bill was $220 ($55 per head with four people). The drinks bill was another $600-ish. We left at 5:30pm when they quite reasonably asked us if we could vacate the table so they could sort out the dinner service.
I had a great time. I can't remember a thing about the food.
Guillaume
This restaurant had huge appeal to me when I lived in Paddington, as it was literally around the corner, and I liked the idea of rolling home rather than into a taxi (or Uber). So I attempted to book for my anniversary, except initially I tried too early, and then I forgot about it until is was too late and they were fully booked.
So we went in May instead, as a party of four. Of course, this was about one month after we'd left Paddington to move back to the Inner West.
It was still totally worth it - I think it's my favourite ever à la carte dining experience.
Icebergs Dining Room & Bar
Went for lunch for my birthday many years ago - I think it was 2009. The way to check would be to find out the year around then where Britney Spears toured Australia, as her entourage took our table after we finished. True story.
Icebergs was quite good, but not sure it was good value. You definitely pay for the view. For most occasions you're probably better paying less for it at the Bondi Icebergs club bistro downstairs, especially as every single time I've been there the weather has been terrible anyway. The meals are above-average for a club bistro, and it also has a TAB.
Marque
On Friday's, Marque has a $49 three-course set menu, which the kitchen uses to experiment and receive feedback for new menu ideas, while the customers uses it to experience one of Sydney's best restaurants on the cheap.
My wife and I did it just before Christmas last year - knocking off work at lunch, catching the bus from the CBD down to Surry Hills, and getting back to the City in time to pick up the children from daycare. Unfortunately the kids aren't in daycare on Friday's anymore so we've never been back.
When you go, you have to remember the kitchen is experimenting. Sp two excellent courses were preceded by some weird carrot entrée. Two out of three ain't bad for the price.
Momofuku Seiobo
I have been three times, and thought it was unique and amazing each time. It just had this different vibe from other fine dining degustations - the service and ambience had a level of casualness and comfort, without being casual in the least. Chefs come to your table to explain the dish they just created... sometimes not very well, reminding you that waitstaff are a highly skilled profession, but it's cool all the same. It also had a half matching wines option, which is genius, because the full match is often too much. Nothing worse than getting double or triple parked when it's primarily about the food rather than the drink.
Momofuku has recently changed head chef, significantly overhauled the menu, and lost a hat. I'm not sure if it's still at the same level.
Rockpool Bar & Grill
Been to both the "bar" and the "grill", and wrote about it here. Yeah, that's the same link as before under The Bridge Room entry. Read it already!
Spice Temple
The non-Rockpool fine dining venture of Neil Perry, I went in about 2011 and it was a bit of an eye-opener in terms of Asian flavours and utilising heat to enhance food. I'm probably a bit less of a rube now when it comes to Asian cuisine, so unsure if it holds up.
Tetsuya's
I went just before Terry Durack decided he was sick of eating the same world leading menu every six months without significant changes, and stripped away a hat out of spite and boredom.
It is probably the best fine dining experience I've had in Sydney.
ONE HAT
The Apollo
A Greek restaurant that embraces the modern casual fine dining trends of share plates, everything being really loud, and slightly more casual (less professional?) service.
I've been three times and think it's pretty good value. If you asked me where to take a large group for a formal dinner in Sydney without breaking the bank, it would be the first restaurant that would come to mind.
The Bathers' Pavillion
I started my buck's party there with a lunch degustation with matched wines. It was excellent.
We then went to The Oaks, at Neutral Bay, where I drank stupid amounts of beer and spirits at breakneck speed, abused friends and strangers alike, got escorted out before midnight, and fell asleep in a taxi that might have overcharged me. My future wife then made me sleep on the couch because I was being obscene and smelt like a hobo.
I probably should've quit at lunch.
Billy Kwong
Went when it was at Surry Hills rather than Potts Point, in late 2012. It was our anniversary of getting together, you know, the anniversary you have before marriage. It was very good, but I think you need a larger group so you can share more dishes to truly appreciate the experience. Will go back one day.
Bistro Moncur
An early date with my now wife. I remember the weather being terrible, and us both half-drowning getting there. I don't actually remember the food, which suggests it was fine - neither great or bad.
Bistrode CBD
It's a weird location - on an upper floor of one of Merivale's least impressive/stupid pubs - but the food is good, and good value. Mains are under $40, which is hard to find for hat restaurants.
Kepos Street Kitchen
After going for breakfast over two years ago, finally made it for dinner for my birthday this month. It's an interesting place. The food is great, the staff friendly, and overall it is fun.
But it's still feels like fine dining in a café - a funny little converted corner shop with sloping floors, where you're likely to elbow the person sitting behind or beside you. They definitely have pushed the venue to its limits.
Monopole
Went for a friends birthday lunch a few years back. It had a great sharing plates menu to snack on through the afternoon of spending way too much money on wine.
Moon Park
A modern Korean restaurant in Redfern that is definitely worth trying. Very unique, and probably my second favourite of the one hat restaurants.
Osteria di Russo & Russo
This is my favourite of the one hats. It is also my local hatted restaurant. My wife and I went there a few weeks after it opened, and have been back a few times since.
Before kids, we probably would've gone every month.
It's a great value set menu where the chef chooses for you, the owner is really friendly, and you can dine at the bar and watch everything happening. It also has a good wine list and great corkage rates, which we'd probably take advantage of if we didn't have such an embarrassing wine collection.
REGIONAL HATS
Yeah, nah. I'm originally from "regional", but to paraphrase Paul Keating, if you don't eat in Sydney you're just dining in.
There are so many places that are, in relative terms, around the corner that I haven't tried. So I'm not particularly bothered about heading to Bowral, or Berry, or whatever other quaint town with lots of shops selling home made crafts and jams has established a fine dining restaurant to exploit cashed-up weekenders from Sydney.
Maybe in retirement.
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