Top 10 hot new dishes added to spring/summer menus in Sydney
Restaurants around Sydney are changing up their menus to complement their dishes with the warmer weather. Ten of Sydney’s best chefs reveal the hottest new must-try dishes about to set the city’s dining scene alight.
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For Sydney chefs it’s their favourite time of year. When the winter menus can be torn up and a whole news range of warm weather dishes created and concocted to dazzle diners throughout spring and summer.
In with sustainable seafood, handmade pasta and creative new takes on old classics; out with slow-cooked meats, curries and tomahawk steaks.
Ten of Sydney’s best chefs offer us a peek inside their kitchens for a first-look at the hottest new must-try dishes about to set the city’s dining scene alight.
FRESH SEAFOOD PLATTER AT OTTO
It is hard to believe but seaside institution Otto has never offered a seafood platter before — something that head chef Richard Ptacnik has decided to rectify with his take on the favourite.
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His interpretation sees steamed blue swimmer crab, poached lobster tail, tiger prawns, rock oysters with Otto’s signature salmon roe, chardonnay and cucumber dressing, Eden mussels topped with an arabiata sauce and scallop tartare with a green olive salsa verde served in the shell.
CHAMPAGNE LOBSTER AND CAVIAR AT ARIA
This was created by head chef Joel Bickford as a nod to the restaurant’s 20th birthday celebrations and is a fresh take on a similar dish served at the restaurant back in 2016.
Bickford’s version sees pan-seared Queensland lobster served with brioche, which has been dipped in buttermilk and fried.
It’s served with a butter sauce and finished with finger lime and sterling caviar.
“I love that this dish is quite simple yet very decadent at the same time, using the best ingredients we can get our hands on — lobster, caviar — it hits all the right notes,” Bickford said.
TABLESIDE TARTARE AT ICEBERGS
Another classic Sydney dish getting a reboot for the spring menu is Iceberg’s fabled steak tartare. This has the famously theatrical twist of being assembled by the server at the table.
Executive chef Monty Kulodrovic sends out the ingredients in their basic form — diced grass-fed steak, diced capers, cornichons, eschalots, parsley and a single quail egg yolk.
It’s all elegantly combined before additions such as chilli, anchovies, garlic aioli, mustard greens and more egg yolk are offered if desired.
“It’s one of those dishes that isn’t always on but when it is, it’s because the beef is just perfect,” Kulodrovic said.
PRAWN TOAST AT BENNELONG
Born from Peter Gilmore’s lifelong love of yum cha, the Bennelong prawn toast gives the original Chinese incarnation something of a luxe makeover.
Skull Island prawns are blitzed with eggs, onion, garlic and cream to make a prawn mousse, which is then folded with diced fresh prawn and sandwiched between thin slices of sourdough bread.
The prawn toast is then deep-fried and served with a fermented chilli aioli. Best enjoyed, we’re told, with a very cold beer.
SOY-CURED SALMON WITH WASABI DASHI DRESSING AT CATALINA
Rose Bay’s beloved Catalina has recently marked its 25th birthday and executive chef Mark Axisa has pulled out all the stops with a menu overhaul that makes the most of sustainable seafood.
Top of the list is a new dish of soy-cured Mount Cook salmon served with tapioca crisps and miso cream and finished in a dressing of sake, mirin, dashi stock, soy sauce and bonito flakes.
“The cured salmon is a fresh, delicate yet incredibly tasty dish, perfectly balanced with subtle Japanese flavours and a crisp note. Best enjoyed with a crisp dry white,” Catalina head chef Alan O’Keefe said.
WARM MARRON SALAD AT BERT’S
Inspired by repeated visits to Italy’s Amalfi Coast, Bert’s head chef Jordan Toft replaced lobster meat with West Australian marron for a new riff on the dish.
Poached in the shell and then tossed through some preserved lemon oil, the marron is served with shaved fennel, rocket and preserved caper leaves before it is finished with Italian olive oil, tarragon sprigs and chopped preserved lemon.
TUNA CARPACCIO AT CAFE GIORGIO
It may not have ocean views but there are few restaurants in Sydney with better opportunities for “people watching” than Cafe Giorgio, which is alongside the famed fountain in Kings Cross.
Head chef Adam Tamini has created a new take on a seafood classic, with a bed of fresh tuna carpaccio dressed with black olive tapenade and served with a salad of baby fennel, Valencia orange segments and a citrus dressing of olive oil and fresh Valencia orange juice.
“As the weather’s warming up this is great because it’s light and fresh and served cold — ideally with a glass of Sardinian white,” Tamini said.
FAIRY FLOSS PAVLOVA AT BAR M
The only dessert on this “hot” list, Bar M owner and chef Paola Toppi has a delightful take on the restaurant’s famous mini-pav, which has been a longstanding menu favourite.
“I wanted to add another element. Being a very light dessert, the floss just complemented that element and emphasised the ‘lightness’, which is perfect for spring and summer months,” Toppi said.
BLACKMORE WAGYU STEAK TARTARE AT QUAY
Another new creation by the culinary genius of Peter Gilmore is this dish of raw smoked steak tartare of Wagyu beef served with an XO sauce reduction.
“The last couple of years steak tartare has been huge,” Gilmore said.
“This is a continuation of that, I suppose.”
Gilmore said the dressing is the key to this dish — with XO sauce simmered down like a stock until it transforms into a highly viscous sauce.
It is then used to coat the beef, which is served with creme fraiche and pea flowers.
FISH CHARCUTERIE BOARD AT SAINT PETER
Seafood genius (and recent published cookbook author) John Niland has spent the past few months delicately curing a range of seafood products which are — finally — ready to be served as part of a new spring menu.
“We have worked so hard on all of these products not knowing if they would 100 per cent work or not but now they’re ready and we are so excited about it,” Niland said.
The city’s first fish charcuterie board is made up of striped marlin pastrami, albacore ham, moonfish guanciale, swordfish belly bacon, a fish head terrine and fish liver pate.
Served with rye bread, VB beer mustard and, ideally, a glass of French rose.
Originally published as Top 10 hot new dishes added to spring/summer menus in Sydney
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