Bentley Restaurant & Bar

Team Bentley rewrote the rules on pub dining with the original Bentley Dining Room & Bar, reshaped the wine bar with Monopole, and reimagined the bistro with Yellow. Now they’ve reinvented the corporate city restaurant, putting the S-E-X into the CBD. Designer Pascale Gomes-McNabb has ripped the stuffiness out of the split-level, 158-year-old space with her space junk scaffolding, while Brent Savage’s menu cleverly mixes the conservative and the curious. So yes, there are great steaks, oysters and a benchmark wine list of serious reds, but there is also a gorgeous little pea soup with purslane and almond skordalia, a delicate igloo of shaved carrots hiding squiggly squid, and a compatible pairing of roasted, rested kangaroo with native pepper, purple carrots and a tangy riberry sauce. A cute rework of the Aero bar brings out the big kid in everyone, whether PA or CEO.

And … Sophisticated share plates make sitting at the bar a pleasure.

THE LOW-DOWN
Vibe Surry Hills swagger city-side.
Best bit New life for an iconic Sydney building.
Worst bit Slightly awkward entrances.