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Bentley Restaurant – Surry Hills, Sydney

Sunday, 30 Jun 13

 Countdowns are both tantalising and infuriating – on one hand, the feeling of being one step closer each day to the goal is amazing…on the other, the thought of just 3 days (!!) to go (and knowing each of those days is going to be a push) felt demotivating. Nonetheless, we had a countdown – and we got through it. And then we celebrated by going back to Bentley. (And set up the next countdown –  149 days until we’re on a plane to Japan.)

Bentley Restaurant was one of those places that we’d gone to once, promised we’d be back…and four years later finally managed to get around to again. It is a good thing we did. Tim has a tendency to jinx restaurants that he stops going to – they inevitably close down 6 months later when we want to go back. Fortunately, it wasn’t so in this case (although we hear Bentley is on the move...), because we had a lovely long lunch, watching the pedestrians brave the wet outside.

Braised octopus, cucumber, sea grapes

Yes, that says sea grapes. And I didn’t know what they were at first either, but now know they are deliciously brine-y pop-in-your-mouth which complimented the tender octopus wonderfully. The cucumber was packed with ‘cucumber-ness’, having been treated sous-vide-style to condense and intensify the flavour.

Banana prawn, sweetcorn, pork hock

My photo does not do this dish justice – the savoury smell of fried pork wafted up from the plate, and we couldn’t resist diving in. Perfectly cooked prawns, silky sweet pops of sweet corn puree, and the crunch of pork hock was a stunning combination.

Heirloom carrots, yoghurt, black olives, pistachios, fenugreek

Presentation wise, this was my favourite dish – vibrant, saturated colours were a pleasing contrast to the doom and gloom that has been Sydney’s weather this past week. The flavours themselves were more subtle – sweetly earthy carrots, with the creamy foil of yoghurt, and surprisingly mild black olive crumbs. It is a testament to the balance of flavours – neither Tim nor myself are a fan of olives (or carrots, really), but we found ourselves inhaling the dish.

Venison, beetroot, turnip

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Visually stunning…with a slight resemblance to a crime scene with the vivid smear and splash and dash of beetroot. The venison was a lovely medium, without a hint of toughness that occasionally can mar the experience. The earthy beetroot brought out that faint gaminess that is inherent in venison. And the attention to detail throughout was spectacular – each frond of garnishing salad was impeccably dressed, not so much vacuous eye-candy, but rather a lovely partner with a sharp wit and that bit of substance. 

Mandarin sorbet, licorice, coconut

I’ve never been a big fan of licorice, but in this dessert, the aniseed flavour did not overpower. Somehow, despite the seemingly disparate components, the citrus of the mandarin (evoking the smell of the freshly peeled fruit), tropical coconut, crunchy honeycomb like shards and jellies and gels all worked together, to leave a gentle sigh and citrus breeze.

Frozen chocolate mousse, pineapple, toast icecream

Tim is the fussier eater between us two, and while I’m trying to beat-I mean train him out of the habit, this time, he gave the waiter a winning smile and asked if he could swap the mandarin dessert in the tasting menu for the chocolate…and blamed it on my wanting to try different things. When really, it was because he wanted the frozen chocolate mousse (that would be the moon-rock-like shards) for himself. And he refused to go halves. Hmph. It must have been that good.

Tim and I are planning to do lunch more often than we have in the past, which is certainly helpful in terms of having sufficient light for photos, but also because lunch menus are usually reasonably priced and great value. Bentley is certainly no exception – for $55 per head, we had a wonderful 5 course spread that left us wishing we’d tried the signature tasting menu so that the experience would continue.

Bentley Restaurant and Bar

320 CROWN ST

SURRY HILLS NSW 2010  

(02) 9332 2344

http://www.thebentley.com.au

Posted at 9:09 pm in Eating Out | Respond?

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