The Bentley

We arrived in Sydney a day late, no thank you to an earlier flight delay that caused us to miss our international connecting flight. That meant that we lost a day in our originally planned itinerary, but we delayed no more once we finally arrived and checked into our hotel.

Our first meal in Sydney was The Bentley, located in the neighborhood of Surry Hills where many Sydney's great restaurants are located. The Bentley did not fail to impress and our meal made us feel better after the saga of losing a day in Sydney. This place takes its food seriously.

My choice of wine was the Chenin Blanc while T opted for the Shiraz blend which included Zinfandel and Grenache. Since our selection was an organic wine, our server suggested that she would let us have a taste of the wine first just in case the organic wine turned out to be something we were not fond of. We appreciated that gesture and the organic wine turned out to be a wonderful and unique choice, with a hint of unfiltered taste.

The cured kingfish was delicately arranged and presented pickled beetroot on top. Sitting on the same plate was buttermilk vinaigrette. The kingfish was fresh and the beetroot was pickled just right without being too sour.

 

The beef tartare created quite an impression. We've had a lot of beef tartare before but this was special. Between the pieces of finely chopped rare beef were wasabi balls made with delicate membrane paper and filled liquid wasabi inside. We popped it into our mouths and the balls burst with liquid wasabi. It was like a molecular gastronomy tease.

The pork belly was another meat delight. Sitting on a bed of smeared rhubarb puree, some of the meat pieces were glazed with garlic milk and served with wattle.

 

The potato and jerusalem artichoke salad was served with some surprise green beans. Any place that makes delicious tasting salads makes us fans.

Chef Brent Savage and Sommelier Nick Hildebrandt clearly have something great going on at The Bentley and it is no surprise looking at their impressive resumes.

Many restaurants in the area close between lunch and dinner hours but The Bentley remains open for business throughout the day.

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The Bentley Restaurant and Bar

320 Crown Street

Surry Hills 2010

Accolades

2010 Australian Gourmet Pages' Restaurant of the Year

2008 Sommelier of the Year, Nick Hildebrandt

2007 Sydney Morning Herald's Wine List of the Year 

2006 Australia Gourmet Traveller's Sommelier of the Year, Nick Hildebrandt