The new taste of Australia
A meeting point for so many different cultures and influences, Sydney has become one of the great food cities. Tom Doorley picks out the highlights.
As it takes the better part of 24 hours to fly to Sydney you may find, like me, that the first three days in this delightful city are spent in a kind of trance. You may also get the urge to leap out of bed at 4am to greet the new day and while prudence dictates that you should try to get back to sleep I would urge stubborn insomniacs to get dressed and head for the Sydney Fish Market (Bank St., Pyrmont; www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au).
This remarkable place hits its full stride at about six in the morning and you can feast your eyes on all manner of strange and delicious creatures of the deep. Few of them have graced the slab of your local fishmonger’s: serried ranks of yellow-fin tuna, globe fish, reef fish, king fish, barracuda, swordfish; Balmain mud bugs, glistening black-shelled mud crabs, ugly flatheads, beautiful abalones...
These, if you have any sense, will form a substantial part of your diet in Sydney and you can kick off with a fishy breakfast in the numerous cafes that cluster around the market’s auction hall.
Seafood is central to eating in Sydney and a confirmed omnivore like myself ate very little meat during a recent fortnight of dedicated munching in this great Australian city. The other central characteristic of Sydney food is a breathtaking iconoclasm, a fusion of cuisines from all over the globe, which, in general, is conducted with remarkable sensitivity and panache. I’m coming to the conclusion that modern Australian food, in all its eclectic glory, is one of the world’s great gastronomies.
I’d go so far as to say that it’s pretty hard to eat badly in Sydney; the worst I encountered was slightly slapdash seafood and some lacklustre Italians of the sort that New Yorkers call “red sauce joints”. Otherwise, it was delight after delight.
Wharf at Wooloomooloo
The Wharf at Wooloomooloo comprises a stunning conversion of an old harbourside warehouse where the anchor tenant is the very cool W Hotel (try its outrageously hip Water Bar). Sharing this vast old building is a remarkable collection of serious restaurants in which I could happily eat for a week. Manta Ray (6 Cowper Wharf Rd; 9332 3822) is seafood heaven, with tables at the water’s edge. Tuna sashimi, crisp squid, mud bugs (essentially really big crayfish) and local oysters with shallot vinegar are highlights.
A few metres away, Kingsley’s Crab and Steakhouse (9 Cowper Wharf Rd; 9331 7788) is a bit more robust and attracts, perhaps, a more male clientele. The kilo T-bone and stir-fried mud crab, with sweet chilli sauce, are the big draws.
A delightful spot for breakfast, although without a view of the water, is Le Petit Creme (116-118 Darlinghurst Rd), the bohemian character of which is explained by its proximity to both the gay and the red-light quarters of Paddington and King’s Cross. Vast bowls of milky coffee, slabs of French toast, excellent brioche and freshly squeezed orange juice are worth travelling for.
Neil Perry’s Rockpool
Neil Perry’s Rockpool (107 George St, The Rocks; 9252 1888) close to the Harbour Bridge, is one of the two most talked-about restaurants in Australia. Open fifteen years it was an early exponent of Modern Australian cuisine and the use of pork belly in various guises (even partnering lobster) is a hallmark of that kind of cooking. Perry cooks with a robust panache that is quite a contrast to the other seriously fashionable restaurant Down Under, Tetsuya’s (529 Kent Street; 9267 2900) where Japan meets France.
Tetsuya Wakuda produces tasting menus only, at a very reasonable $190(€117) per head for ten courses with five carefully chosen wines. A tartare of raw salmon studded with finely diced truffle is one of the simpler examples of the jewel-like dishes and exceptionally good.
Bill Granger
Tetsuya’s is about as formal as it gets in Australia while Bills2 (359 Crown St, Surry Hills; 9360 4762) strikes me as being much more typical. The eponymous Bill Granger has written widely about Sydney food and has done much to create it in the first place. Bills2 (the original, Bills, is not quite in the same league) opens for breakfast at 7am and runs through until dinner. As eclectic as it gets, the food is as assured as the service is warm and efficient.
Australia’s proximity to South-East Asia explains why Chinese and Thai food is so spankingly good in Sydney. Thai cuisine is quite exceptional at Longrain (85 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills; 9280 2888) where they don’t take dinner bookings. Try the caramelised pork hock with chilli vinegar to see why you have to wait at least an hour for a table.
Closer to the centre of town is Sailor’s Thai (106 George St, The Rocks; 9251 2466) where the best lunch tables are the few on a shaded veranda with a view of the water. Oysters marinated in limejuice served in lettuce leaves with shredded salted beef gives a flavour of what to expect.
Harbour views are a bonus, of course, but an ocean view is even better. At Jonah’s (68 Bynyah Road, Palm Beach; 9974 5599), less than an hour out of town, the view is seen through floor-to-ceiling glass and the seafood-dominated menu with oriental twists seems highly appropriate. The wine list is big by Australian standards and very reasonably priced.
Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach may be a bit of kip (there’s a hint of Bray seafront about it, despite the difference in climate) but it does have a landmark restaurant in the form of Icebergs (1 Notts Ave, Bondi Beach; 9365 9000), which has a commanding view of the sweep of the bay. Its menu combines Italian influences with a commitment to stripped down and stylish simplicity. Mud bugs with potato salad, peas and tarragon and salt-encrusted bistecca alla Fiorentina were simply ace on my visit. Iceberg’s clientele is young, hip and very well heeled but the service is friendly and the wine list first rate but not exorbitant.
If you manage to eat in only one Sydney restaurant it would be hard to beat Guillaume at Bennelong (Sydney Opera House; 9241 1999), a modern Australian with a very French twist. Situated within the arches of the Sydney Opera House it has to be one of the great dining rooms of the world with unrivalled views of the harbour. And the food matches up, especially the tomato soup with caviar and the roasted peaches.
By the way…
The most happening wines are Riesling and Verdelho amongst the whites (watch out for the stunning Grosset Polish Hill Riesling but be prepared to pay $80 (€49) - $100 (€61) a bottle), and Chambourcin, the new red varietal. Craiglee Shiraz from Victoria is on many of the best wine lists at around $80. Buy it here from Wines Direct (1890 579579) for just over €27.
Many restaurants allow you to bring your own wine. Corkage is usually charged at $2-$4 a head.
Espresso is called ‘short black’ Down Under.
Grazing is a popular way to eat. Visit the Farmers’ Market at Fox Studios on Saturdays and nibble your way through the stalls.
If you take the ferry to Manly don’t forget to try the hot chocolate at Max Brenner’s in the terminal building. The spoon with which you stir the melting chocolate into the hot milk is cleverly designed to double as a straw. Great chocolates too - all kosher. Flavours include lavender, black pepper, caraway.
Watercress is the new rocket; liquorice is one of the current big flavours; cheese is served with plump muscatel raisins and unleavened lavosh crackers; betel leaves with spicy fillings are a key element in Thai restaurants.
You can buy a 27 acre olive farm with 800 trees and a six-bedroom bungalow in need of updating for $388,000 (€238,000) in the Hunter Valley.
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