Bentley Restaurant & Bar

By Franz Scheurer

Take an old pub and remodel it with hip, hard surfaces and arty cut-out panels. Add splashes of bright colours, funky tables (with even funkier lock-in tablecloths), chairs and banquettes, a working kitchen and a groovy bar and you have all the makings of a Sydney Mod-Oz restaurant.

So far so good… now what you need is someone to run it and make it stand out from the crowd. This is exactly what happened at Bentley. Nick Hildebrandt, one of Sydney’s leading wine talents and one of the few who can routinely match wine and food perfectly, runs the floor, together with service-centred Marco Taddeo and a gaggle of friendly and committed staff. In the kitchen we have Brent Savage, a chef who creates challenging food that I want to eat. Brent’s food is ethereal, sometimes confronting, always textural and cerebral but never boring or bland. It’s food that needs to be mentally as much as physically digested. Food to talk about, argue about and dissect, but in the end, enjoy!

Rarely do the subliminal and the sublime come together this well.

We tried the degustation and the vegetarian degustation and here is what we ate:

Gazpacho 3 Ways

Sardines on Toast with Almond Gazpacho

2004 Egon Müller ‘Schorzhof’ Riesling, Mosel, Germany

Salad of Carrot and Fennel with Olive Powder

2004 Kracher Pinot Gris, Burgenland, Austria

Artichoke Custard with Roast Baby Garlic, Borlotti Beans, Soy Beans & Lupin

2004 Guitian Godello, Valderras, Spain

Soft Free Range Egg and Almond Bread Crunch

Warm Salad of Shellfish with Vegetables à la Grecque

2004 Buissonnes Sancerre Rosé, Loire Valley, France

Sweet Corn, Fungi and Zucchini

Pork Cheek and Bubble, Confit King Prawn & Orange

2004 Metrat Chiroubles, Beaujolais, France

Potato ‘Risotto’ with Sautéed Mushrooms & Warm Parmesan Cream

Seared Mandagery Creek Venison with Blue Lentils & Burnt Onion Sabayon

2004 Georges Vernay Syrah, Vin de Pays, Rhône, France

Melted Artavaggio, Sherry Caramel and Pepper

1995 Pichot Vouvray Moelleaux, Loire Valley, France

Chocolate and Honeycomb Ice Cream Cone with Warm Banana

2002 Clos de Pauillies Banyuls ‘Rimage’, Rousillon, France

Timing and presentation were first rate and, as I already mentioned, the food / wine matches were exemplary. One of the hardest things when matching food and wine, is to not only match each dish successfully, but to achieve a natural progression with the wines, increasing in weight throughout the meal. Fail and it becomes obvious once the wine for the next course is served a tad too early and the diner tries the wine without food. Nick gets the progression right (with one exception, the Guitian Godello), and that’s no mean feat!

Our favourite vegetarian dish was the free range egg, an ultra-clever combination of everyday produce. I was also impressed by the use of lupin in the artichoke dish. The venison was the meat-eaters’ pick, closely followed by the pork. When you go as far out on a limb as Brent you expect to occasionally fall. During our meal, this did not happen once. Brent’s food is prepared with confidence and finely honed kitchen craft. Although molecular leanings are obvious, I found every dish a pleasure to eat and nothing came across as prepared purely for effect.

Due to the restaurant’s hard surfaces, noise levels are a bit high, but it is still possible to hold a conversation at a table of four without shouting. The lighting is quite dim but not too dim to read the menu or the extensive and captivating wine list; the whole atmosphere is one of bonhomie with an edge. This is a fantastic place to have a drink and some top-notch tapas, sit down and dine à-la-carte, or work your way through a whole degustation menu.

I love it!

Score: 8.5/10

For more information or bookings:

Bentley Restaurant & Bar

Cnr. Campbell and Crown Streets

Surry Hills NSW 2010

Tel.: 02 9332 2344