The restaurant is named after the year the Young Street shoulder of the building it occupies was built. While it honours its historic bones with restored architectural features and Art Deco details, it also promises to deliver the cutting-edge, innovative dining experience for which The Bentley Group is known.
Drawing on methods like curing, smoking, fermenting, preserving and pickling, Savage’s menu promises to go beyond the traditional brasserie trio of oysters, soup and choucroute.
“The menu is our take on an Australian brasserie,” says Savage in a statement.
Yes, there are oysters – Sydney Rock from Merimbula and Pacific from Tasmania – but there are also more inventive appetisers like the raw Paradise prawn with fermented chilli mayonnaise. And it wouldn’t be a new Sydney opening without caviar, of which there are two to choose from.
Starters consist of Flinders Island scallops with brown butter and finger lime; spanner crab alla chitarra with sea urchin sauce; and beef tartare with rye crisp. As for mains, much is cooked on the theatrical charcoal grill seen from the dining room into the open kitchen – think coal-roasted Murray cod with pepperberry butter, lobster with finger lime and tarragon, whole roasted duck and three cuts of steak.
The desserts, however, are more traditionally French; there’s a dark chocolate mille feuille with passionfruit sorbet and vanilla crémeux, and a white chocolate custard with preserved cherries.
Nick Hildebrandt delivers an interesting and exhaustive wine program to match the restaurant’s grandeur. The wine list champions Australian and European labels, showcasing 400 international producers as well as a rotating by-the-glass list from the Bentley Wine Vault.
