The team behind hatted Sydney restaurants Pellegrino 2000 and Bistrot 916 opened their latest venture Clam Bar on Wednesday.

There’s caviar pancakes ($35), prawn cocktails ($24) and crab cakes ($36) on the Circular Quay restaurant’s nostalgic, seafood-heavy menu.

Clam Bar takes inspiration from the classic steakhouses of New York City, visited by co-founders Dan Pepperell, Mikey Clift and Andy Tyson in September of last year.

“I’m so excited to give the great steakhouse a revamp,” Tyson says.

“They’ve been open for more than a hundred years, and they have all these dishes that have become absolute classics, but the execution can be hit or miss.

“[At Clam Bar] we’re bringing modern techniques and creative flair to those dishes, really turning them up.”

Menu items like oysters Rockefeller (baked oysters with herbs, butter and garlic bread crumbs, $35) and scallop casino (grilled half shell scallops with garlic and chilli butter, $28) reference iconic American dishes, originating at Antoine’s in New Orleans and Little Casino on Rhode Island, respectively.

The hospitality group was awarded hats in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2023 for the Italian trattoria at Surry Hills (Pellegrino 2000) and French bistro at Potts Point (Bistrot 916).

“Pepperell and Clift have worked their almost psychedelic magic on these dishes we know and love, with [their] trademark ability to take something familiar and give it fantastical new energy,” says Tyson.

Head chef Sam Galloway, who moves over from Bistrot 916, will be using a high end Josper charcoal oven to grill premium strip steak ($60 for 350g), porterhouse ($180 for 1kg) and rib-eye ($120 for 600g). Steaks will be served alongside “a huge range of sides”, including “big fat potatoes, creamed corn and fresh wedge salad”.

“It’s probably a bigger menu than any of our other restaurants,” says Tyson.

Tyson says the format of an old school steakhouse will better enable the kitchen to showcase prime Australian produce, from both land and sea.

“We were really inspired by the building and the space … this is a city restaurant, and we considered that when deciding what concept would work best for the site.”

Clam Bar takes the place of Ross Lusted’s iconic restaurant The Bridge Room (closed in April 2019), housed within a heritage listed building on the corner of Bridge and Young Streets.

Open Mon-Sat lunch and dinner (lunch services begin May 5)

44 Bridge Street, Sydney