Blanco

Blanco has closed and is now Steak Haus.
Say what you will about Sydney's medieval liquor licensing laws (thankfully being changed as we speak): there would have been no bars like Baron's without them. A trip to Baron's always involved a complicated 'are you intending to dine?' two-step starting with garlic bread or chips and ending with being led upstairs to drink. No matter who you were or where you'd been during the night, everyone was drawn to Baron's; it was a big homing beacon for sleaze and depravity.

Sadly, Baron's closed two years back; in its place stands the newly opened Barcelona Building, brought to you from the Woollahra Hotel Group. Inside is Blanco, a new restaurant opened by chefs Scott Mason and Brendon Vallejo who both hail from Bistro Moncur. It's a cool pile of bricks. The entire thing is swirls and curves, a little like the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona, and entirely white, with the name of the restaurant punched out in giant typewriter keys. Inside, the curved floor-to-ceiling windows have a fishbowl effect, so you can see everything that's going on outside on Roslyn Street.

Blanco is casual and well-priced. They don't take reservations. You don't have to have an entree, main and dessert; you could easily rock up and order the incredibly rich soft shell mud crab sandwich with avocado and coleslaw. The bread is oiled and grilled, the crab is deep fried and it's covered in mayo. One or two bites is pure delight, but this sucker is too rich for its own good.

You might be made of stronger stuff than us. You might laugh in the face of generously portioned snacks. But if you want to try a few different things without the aid of a defibrillator, start with the little items first up on the menu – they're only $6 each and well worth ordering. Grilled toastlets topped with goat's cottage cheese and finely chopped pistachio, say, or spiced chickpea fritters. The latter are a little more like a veggie burger puck than the crisp fritter you'd imagine, but they're light and tasty and just the thing if you're still deciding what to eat.

Veal minute steak topped with a pile of light, crisp onion rings is a bit like something you might find at Moncur, though the flavour combo of the sweet, tender veal and quite bitter sorrel isn't quite hitting it. You'd be better off going with the intensely sweet, rich and briny Portuguese-style pork and mussels.

The chocolate and strawberry marshmallow sandwich (only $6!) is the Atom Ant of desserts - tiny but powerful, packing a super-sweet wallop. The mascarpone custard, however, is a revelation - cool, wobbly and studded with sultanas and raspberries, topped with a praline shell, it's the very definition of dessert.

The wine list, as with everything else, is extremely reasonable with very little on the list pushing past the $60 mark. Service is yet to find its groove (there doesn't seem to be anyone running the floor and menu knowledge could be better), but they've only been open two weeks and will no doubt hit their straps soon.

So while the floor may still be undergoing fine tuning, the kitchen spells success, producing great dishes with clear flavours. This is a restaurant you'll want to dine in often. Get in while you can still get a table.