NewsBite

Advertisement

New York could do with more steakhouses like Sydney’s new two-hatted Clam Bar

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

Clam Bar is a New York-style steakhouse from the Pellegrino 2000 and Bistrot 916 team.
1 / 8Clam Bar is a New York-style steakhouse from the Pellegrino 2000 and Bistrot 916 team.Jennifer Soo
Crab cakes with aioli.
2 / 8Crab cakes with aioli.Jennifer Soo
Garlicky spaghetti and clams.
3 / 8Garlicky spaghetti and clams.Jennifer Soo
Sydney rock oysters with nuoc cham and ginger chipolatas.
4 / 8Sydney rock oysters with nuoc cham and ginger chipolatas.Edwina Pickles
Go-to dish: Barnsley chop with anchovy butter and creamed spinach.
5 / 8Go-to dish: Barnsley chop with anchovy butter and creamed spinach.Jennifer Soo
The house cheesecake.
6 / 8The house cheesecake.Jennifer Soo
The tiki-style Jungle Bird cocktail.
7 / 8The tiki-style Jungle Bird cocktail.Jennifer Soo
Clam Bar in Sydney’s CBD.
8 / 8Clam Bar in Sydney’s CBD.Jennifer Soo

Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20

Steakhouse$$

If you’re into rib-eyes, stiff drinks and big, mahogany booths, there’s no better style of restaurant than the New York steakhouse. I’ve had buckets of fun at Manhattan’s red-blooded meat joints, Keens and Gallaghers, served by ancient waiters three martinis gone (them and me), the table heaving with wrist-thick porterhouse, bearnaise and all the sides.

The only dud thing about New York’s steakhouses is that most of the food is unspeakably bad. Granted, the meat is usually fine – no better or worse than a fancy Queensland pub – but the shrimp cocktail will taste like cold rubber and the creamed spinach could be used to mortar bricks. You’re there for the history, vibe, booze and service.

Chefs Daniel Pepperell and Michael Clift are huge steakhouse fans, having visited Manhattan for a research trip with sommelier business partner Andy Tyson. They studied crab cakes, white jackets and caesar salad, and returned to open Clam Bar in Sydney’s CBD. Unlike an authentic New York grill, however, the food is highly delicious.

Advertisement

The team also runs Bistrot 916 in Potts Point and Surry Hills’ Pellegrino 2000, where French and Italian classics are wrought with new-wave energy; it’s a similar pitch here.

Six oysters, for example, are served with mignonette, as per steakhouse tradition ($30), or accompanied by ginger chipolatas and Vietnamese dipping sauce nuoc cham ($40). Eat cold oyster. Bite hot sausage. Order another glass of Georges Deschamps Chablis ($25).

The interior features chandeliers, vintage posters and a tin marlin from Mexico (left).
The interior features chandeliers, vintage posters and a tin marlin from Mexico (left).Jennifer Soo

You can find Clam Bar on the corner where Opera Brasserie once served steak frites and The Bridge Room was awarded three hats. The three-week-old restaurant is now gussied up with chandeliers, a few timber booths and Murano glass sconces. There are vintage Heinz posters and a beautifully lit, under-the-sea oil painting by artist Laura Jones. Full marks for the life-size tin marlin from Mexico. Few other dining spaces are equal parts cosy and slick.

Advertisement

If you’re not fussed about steak, seafood options abound, such as a fish fillet of the day – maybe cobia ($52) – and yellowtail tuna poke (yes, poke) with egg yolk and truffle ($26).

A very good prawn cocktail ($24) features poached tigers served with their detached heads on ice (suck out the head juice if that’s your thing).

Crab cakes (two for $36) are pan-fried and gently seasoned and come with aioli and ferociously crisp lettuce.

Clams are tossed through spaghetti with butter, garlic, chilli, white wine … and more garlic ($38).

Go-to dish: Barnsley chop with anchovy butter and creamed spinach.
Go-to dish: Barnsley chop with anchovy butter and creamed spinach.Jennifer Soo
Advertisement

Meat-wise, don’t miss the Barnsley chop. The centre cut of lamb ($52) is a signature at Keens in Manhattan, where it is grey and tastes of gristle. Clam Bar’s loin chop is rich, grassy and juicier than a New York Post gossip column. Team it with anchovy butter and the blue cheese-laced creamed spinach ($16) for optimal results.

The martini is Sydney’s best: super dry and made the with gin stored so far below zero it’s almost like syrup.

From the charcoal-grilled steak carte, there’s an intensely flavoured 350-gram New York strip ($60) that’s top value for sharing between two. A 600-gram rib-eye ($120) is too enthusiastically seasoned on one visit, but the natural, buttery taste fights through. Certainly, there are higher-grade steaks around town, but you’ll be paying a lot more for the privilege.

Sides are terrific and all cost $16. Highlights include a silky corn and gruyere gratin, thick-cut bacon and beef-fat potatoes that taste like the chips from your childhood.

For dessert, it’s hard to go past the house cheesecake ($19) but you should also consider the steamed maple-syrup pudding poised in a grilled pineapple custard with licorice ice-cream ($19). Sweet winter dreams are made of this.

Advertisement

My cocktail dreams, meanwhile, are realised with the martini ($25), which might be – no, it is – Sydney’s best: super dry and made the same way as those at Ian Fleming’s old local, Dukes London, with gin stored so far below zero it’s almost like syrup. The tiki-style Jungle Bird ($23), also a hoot, features dark rum, lime, pineapple juice and Campari. Service is excellent across the board.

Does the CBD need another place to blow a week’s grocery bill on giant hunks of cow? God, no. We already have Rockpool Bar and Grill, The Gidley, Bistecca, Chophouse, Kingsleys and the gaudy Botswana Butchery. But there’s always room for young, hungry restaurateurs determined to make the city a more exciting place to eat. New York could do with more steakhouses like Clam Bar, too.

The low-down

Vibe: New-wave, all-purpose New York grill

Go-to dish: Barnsley chop ($52)

Drinks: Cult and classic wines in a wide range of prices and styles, plus dynamite cocktails

Cost: About $220 for two, excluding drinks

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine

Continue this series

Sydney’s 10 most recently hatted restaurants to add to your wishlist
Up next
The main 50-seat dining room is lined with an Etruscan mural, giving it the air of a basement crypt.

Does the Hubert team’s decadent new grillhouse Le Foote live up to the hype?

Swillhouse Group’s ambitious new multi-level Mediterranean venue is a labyrinthine adventure straight out of a Fellini movie.

The go-to dish, eclair carbonara oozing pecorino custard.

‘Completely over the top and ridiculous’: The Sanderson sells the sizzle and the steak

It’s completely over the top and ridiculous, but the owners of Sydney’s newest luxe seafood and steakhouse are determined to pull out all the stops.

Previous
The clamorous dining room has a 20-seat private room and a stool-lined bar saved for walk-ins.

Love Tilly team’s buzzy new Palazzo Salato serves up proper pasta and candlelit glam

The latest venue from the Love Tilly Group is its biggest ever, bringing the best of old-school dining and new-gen talent.

See all stories
Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement

Original URL: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/new-york-could-do-with-more-steakhouses-like-sydney-s-new-two-hatted-clam-bar-20230525-p5db9o.html