Lune
Lune
Clam bar’s Michael Clift, Dan Pepperell and Andy Tyson
In 2022, Sydney’s dining scene felt like a mixed bag. There were plenty of highs, including a slew of innovative new openings, as our best restaurants of the year list demonstrates. On the flip side, there were some big lows – think staffing issues, ongoing food-delivery driver safety concerns, and multiple closures. So what has 2023 got in store for us? You can never truly be sure, but what we do know is this: there are lots of great places coming. The Nilands are going over the Harbour Bridge to open the seafood and vegetable-focused Petermen, Maurice Terzini has a hand in reimagining the beloved Jackson’s on George, and a pair of Melbourne institutions are trying their luck in Sydney. Here are the venues we’re excited about in 2023.
St Siandra, Mosman
It’s possible to arrive at St Siandra on foot, by car or by boat because this Mediterranean-inspired eatery, led by former Nomad head chef Sam McCallum, has its own private beach.
“Absolute waterfront spots like this on Middle Harbour don’t come up often in Sydney,” co-owner Gavin Gray tells Broadsheet. “It’s [not far from] the city but feels like you’ve travelled much further afield, which makes it all the more unique and special.”
The menu leans into the restaurant’s waterfront locale, and will include seven-spice Moreton Bay bugs, Pacific oysters with ajo blanco (or “white gazpacho”), skewered baby octopus and tiger prawns. It’ll have a sunshine-yellow ground-floor dining room with terracotta tiles and white marble, and a second-floor function space with a soft blue palette. We reckon St Siandra will be the place to go for channelling Amalfi coast vibes.
Clam Bar, CBD
We’re loving the name of the anticipated third restaurant by the team behind two of our faves, Bistrot 916 and Pellegrino 2000. It’s the third venture for chefs Dan Pepperell (Restaurant Hubert, Alberto’s Lounge, 10 William St) and Mikey Clift, and sommelier Andy Tyson, and this time they’re going with a New York-inspired seafood grill and steakhouse. But given Pepperell’s non-standard takes on classic dishes – we’re looking at his boudin noir (French blood sausage) served as spring rolls) and a trippa alla Romana that tastes like butter chicken – we’re anticipating something that’s not straight up. It’s set to open in February.
Alibi Bar & Kitchen at Ovolo Hotel, Woolloomooloo
One of the pioneers in Australia’s plant-based dining scene is about to launch her first eatery in Sydney. Shannon Martinez, who’s behind Melbourne’s Smith & Deli and Lona Misa, is relaunching vegan restaurant Alibi Bar & Kitchen at the Ovolo hotel on Woolloomooloo’s Finger Wharf. “I look forward to bringing a taste of plant-based Latin cuisine to the bayside and giving Sydneysiders their own version of Smith & Daughters,” she said in a statement.
The yet-to-be-announced menu will be overseen by chef Jiwon Do and promises to include some of Martinez’s signature dishes. Andrea Gualdi, co-founder of Maybe Sammy (he’s no longer involved in the group), will be in charge of the drinks program, serving spritzes, cocktails designed for high tea, plus beers and alcohol-free options. Thirty percent of the wine list will be vegan, with plenty of Mediterranean varietals from small Australian producers.
Brasserie 1930, CBD
Veteran restauranteurs Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt have plenty of Sydney institutions to their name. There’s Bentley and Monopole, as well as seafood restaurant Cirrus and plant-based eatery Yellow. This year they’ll add Brasserie 1930 to the list.
Opening in March at the new Capella Sydney hotel, in the heritage-listed Department of Education building on Bridge Street, Brasserie 1930’s elegant menu focuses on independent Australian producers. The kitchen will smoke, cure, ferment, preserve and pickle in-house, and a charcoal grill is the centrepiece of the open kitchen.
“The heritage dining room is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen, and our intention is to create a Sydney institution,” Savage said in a statement. “The menu will hero brasserie classics done our way.” The wine list features unusual and up-and-coming producers alongside classic European and Australian makers. Rare and aged wines from the Bentley Group’s Wine Vault collection will also be available.
Petermen, St Leonards
Josh and Julie Niland are taking their growing sustainable seafood empire over the Harbour Bridge in February, opening Petermen, a 60-seater in St Leonards with a seafood and vegetable focus. “Petermen” is a 15th-century term for fisherfolk – referring to their biblical patron, Saint Peter, who was himself a fisherman. Saint Peter is, of course, the pair’s original nose-to-fin eatery.
As always, the husband-and-wife team will be working closely with growers and producers who prioritise sustainability and ethical practices. The restaurant will join the Nilands’ other venues: Fish Butchery in Paddington and Waterloo, and Charcoal Fish.
The Grand National Hotel, Paddington
That leads us to the reimagining of this landmark backstreet Paddington pub. The Nilands have decided to relocate their acclaimed seafood restaurant, Saint Peter, from Oxford Street to the 1890-built hotel, which is located nearby, on the corner of Elizabeth and Underwood streets. The Grand National will also welcome staying guests – it’ll have boutique accommodation with 14 rooms. The new Saint Peter restaurant will be housed in an opulent room accommodating 45 people, who will dine under a skylight ceiling. There will also be a more casual bar dining experience.
El Primo Sanchez, Paddington
The group behind Maybe Sammy – named Australia’s best bar four years in a row by the World’s 50 Best – has always focused on Las Vegas and Italian-inspired venues, but their fifth, El Primo Sanchez, is a total departure. Opening on the ground floor of Paddington’s Rose Hotel, El Primo Sanchez takes inspiration from Mexico, with cocktails made with Mexican and South American produce and served in clay jarritos (little jugs), and a range of agave spirits. Tacos and other substantial dishes will riff on classic Mexican cooking.
“You can still expect the same high level of hospitality, playful energy, brilliant cocktails and attention to detail as our other bars,” said Maybe Group co-founder Vince Lombardo in a statement. “It will just be wrapped up into a Mexican environment with a lot more of a laid-back pub vibe than a high-end cocktail bar.”
El Primo Sanchez is opening in partnership with Public Hospitality, a group that reinvents old-school pubs, such as The Strand in Darlinghurst and Redfern’s Norfolk. The bar will join the Maybe Group’s other four venues: Maybe Sammy, Dean & Nancy on 22, Sammy Junior and Maybe Frank. This should arrive soon, as it was slated to open last December.
Beau & Dough and Beau Bar, Surry Hills
Stanbuli closed in April, but co-owner and chef Ibrahim Kasif is returning to oversee the kitchen at Nomad Group’s new Surry Hills venues: Beau & Dough and Beau Bar.
Beau & Dough will operate in the day with a focus on manoush (Lebanese flatbread), topped with traditional za’atar and cheese, spiced lamb, plus some unexpected ingredients. It will be served alongside falafel, hummus with meat, fried cauliflower with zhoug and tahini sauce.
Then from 5pm, Beau Bar will focus on Australian wines by up-and-coming makers. There will be more than 300 bottles on the menu, including an extensive selection of minimal intervention and natural wines. Kasif’s bar menu features seafood such as sugar-cured ocean trout with a buttermilk pancake, lobster thermidor with saffron pilaf, and a cold seafood platter.
“We like to think of [Beau] as Nomad’s cool little sibling, exhibiting all the family values but, like all third children, a little cooler, a little funkier, a little freer to find its own identity,” Nomad Group owner Rebecca Yazbek said in a statement.
Lune, Darlinghurst
Melbourne’s world-famous Lune Croissanterie is coming to Sydney – specifically, to a new 300-square-metre space on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst. Taking over the heritage buildings at 60, 90, and 120 Oxford Street, the Oxford & Foley development will feature retail and commercial spaces, a boutique hotel, late-night dining and cafes, as well as Lune. Behind the heritage facade will stand one of Lune’s famous glass cubes, with pastry chefs on display creating Lune’s exquisite croissants and pastries in a temperature-controlled environment. The seating space will spill out into the laneways off Burton and Foley streets.
“When I opened Lune by myself, I just had this crazy, obsessive desire to make the perfect croissant,” Lune’s director and founder Kate Reid tells Broadsheet. “The original Lune was a 20-square-metre shop on a residential street. I was in there ploughing away, trying to perfect this French pastry. I just never envisaged that I’d open this store in Sydney, in this beautiful heritage building. How wild.”
Jackson’s on George, Circular Quay
When late-night CBD boozer Jackson’s on George was closed and demolished in 2018, reopening wasn’t on the cards. But thanks to DTL Entertainment – run by a group of some of Sydney’s most respected restauranteurs, including Bondi Icebergs’ Maurice Terzini – the venue was saved to be resurrected at Sydney Place, a new Circular Quay precinct at the base of Sydney’s tallest office tower.
Split over three levels, the new iteration will comprise a ground-floor pub, a middle floor with a restaurant and wine bar, and a rooftop cocktail bar. It’s slated to open in early 2023. Jackson’s will bring together “contemporary, cutting-edge music, art, food and beverage, fashion and architecture”, according to Terzini.
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