Bentley Restaurant and Bar

RESTAURANT REVIEW:

One of the greatest collaborations in Sydney's ever-evolving restaurant scene is that of sommelier Nick Hildebrandt and chef Brent Savage. Each on their own a force to be reckoned with, but together, they're unstoppable.

For almost five years, the Bentley's progressive food, inimitable wine list and excellent floor staff made it the darling of Sydney food freaks. But the room's always been less than ideal. Not any more, though. The old dining room, which looked like a Play School set, has gone, replaced by this newer, better, brighter (well, actually dimmer) restaurant and bar, care of Melbourne architect Pascale Gomez McNabb.

Think of the new look as ‘scrunchy fabulous'. The light fittings resemble crumpled-up cardboard boxes. Messed-up black mesh acts as a divider between the restaurant and the bar. Speaking of which, the bar is now properly independent from the restaurant. It's a big improvement. While the bar menu no longer features snappy tapas dishes (they're trying to move away from idea of tapas altogether), there are still some more modest offerings - nuts, olives and the like. The idea is more that the bar is for drinkin', the restaurant is for eatin'.

And the eats are as good as ever. If you've never eaten here, before, try the tasting menu. Savage's progressive degustation filled with soils, dusts, custards and tubes works better in small bites, rather than the traditional entrée-main-dessert. That said, there's nothing wrong with going the other way – it's just more food. If you do choose to EMD, start with  the foie gras parfait – a long tube of lightly whipped duck liver served with thin little toastlets and bejewelled with pickled raisins, racked up with a smattering of puffed rice. The result is smooth and rich interspersed with the pop and crackle of puffed rice and ping of acidity and sweetness from the raisins.

Savage also does some of the best vego fare in the city. An airy, light parmesan custard that disappears as soon as it hits your mouth has a little pile of truffled asparagus on the side. We'd question the need for the truffle component, though. Why not give the asparagus a chance to speak for itself? That said, it's a small criticism in a sea of deliciousness. Moving onto meat, you should really try the pork belly – cubes of crisp belly tumble over a ribbon of apple jelly with miso, tonka bean and green olive.

Mains-wise, the duck is the winner - thin slices of slow roasted duck are layered over each other, resting on a bed of mushroom powder and thin slices of cuttlefish, punctuated by full-stop sized enoki mushrooms. Is beef tendon the new bone marrow? If Bentley and Rockpool are anything to go by, it is. Here, a fist-sized beef fillet is garnished with a disc of gelatinous tendon and burnt onion mayonnaise. Amazing. 

Dessert though, is what it's all about. There's the toast custard – alternating little hunks of chocolate parfait and toast flavoured custard – it's a taste sensation only to be slightly eclipsed by the outrageously rich honeycomb chocolate bar. The honeycomb centre is incredibly sticky and chewy, covered in dark, crumbly and dense Callebaut chocolate. It's pretty much a Crunchie on steroids.

The Bentley now has a setting it deserves – a room that lives up to the stellar food and wine offerings. If it wasn't on your radar before, it had better be now. 

BAR REVIEW:

Wine buff? You ain’t seen nothing yet. This wine bar and restaurant has what is probably the most extensive, idiosyncratic and ever-evolving wine list in Sydney thanks to sommelier/co-owner Nick Hildebrandt. In fact, unless you know anything about wine at all, or you like closing your eyes and just pointing at things, we’d suggest asking Hildebrandt to just pour you something tasty. Chef Brent Savage rocks it on the food front with his progressive, modernist menu and while wine is the focus here, you can have faith in your bartender to make you a decent cocktail. Home away from home for Sydney's winerati, you can bet on a full, thirsty house at all times.