Bilson's

Tetsuya Wakuda, Neil Perry and Tony Bilson. They're Sydney restaurant royalty. But did you know there's some big talent behind the big names? Luke Powell, the tattooed scruff and head chef at Tetsuya's, is really kicking it up a notch on the food front, bringing influences from top restaurants such as Copenhagen's Noma and Mugaritz in Spain. Phil Wood, Rockpool's head chef, has amped up the Chinese gear to a point where the restaurant is more Chinese fine dining than mod Oz – and by hell, it works. And then there's the recently appointed head chef Diego Munoz at Bilson's who has changed the game so significantly, it could be a different restaurant.

There's no more stuffiness. Everything's younger, fresher and more lively, from the people on the floor to the chefs proudly delivering some of the courses throughout the night. On the floor, head sommelier and restaurant manager Richard Hargreave is running a smart game, pouring crazy wines and cracking jokes, and has a quick, spry and witty team working with him. And we're pleased to be eating here.     

There are four menus on offer - two of which are vegetarian - and two degustation options. There's the Grand (10 courses for $195) and the Petit ($145 for eight courses). If you take the plunge with the Grand option, may we suggest booking an early table and wearing loose pants? Time Out goes Petit and even then it's by no means a short night - it's a lot of food.

It's also an exciting menu. At Bilson's vegetarian food is celebrated - not tolerated. Pasta rubble (you might recognise it as fregola) is joined by nibs of wine jelly, with jewel-like strawberries, freeze-dried and thinly coated in yoghurt. It's all covered in a leaf litter of baby spinach. It's a combination of fizz and pop with an incredible vegetal savour and sweetness from the strawberry and wine gums. A dish of lightly blowtorched firm tofu comes with two types of grain mustard and a broth of smoked white beans that bizarrely has the taste and consistency of a ham broth - meat for vegetarians. It's hard to see yeast featured as a menu item without thinking about a nice cooling glass of cranberry juice, but here it translates as a light foam, covering sautéed mushrooms and tiny little turned potatoes. It doesn't do it for us the way the spears of sticky eggplant with a bitter chocolate and miso ganache does, though.
     
There's a real breath of fresh air in the kitchen here. Between devising such dishes as the clouds of soft poached meringue sandwiching blobs of triple cream topped with slices of toffee banana with the faintest crush of toasted Sichuan pepper, patissier Jean-Charles Sommer has dug up his great grandmother's old menus. She was a chef on the old French cruise liners and these beautiful artefacts (replete with old food and wine stains) have been reproduced on the current Bilson's menus. The ‘chocolate box' is very cute too. A huge wooden box comes to the table filled with chocolate-covered almond clusters and all manner of chocolates filled with ganache and little macarons.

It is expensive. It is a long meal. But it's totally worth it. If Bilson's has disappointed you in the past and you believe in second chances, now is the time to go.