The Mouth: Bentley Group’s buzzy new King Clarence in the CBD leaves you with a full belly but your ears ringing
The Mouth left King Clarence starved for a chat: tongue singing, but ears ringing. The food was fabulous. But you have to shout that from the rooftops to be heard.
Confidential
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Age shall not weary them goes the saying, but it sure is wearying us.
Now, this column understands all too well that the last thing anyone wants to read about is how after a lifetime going to underground bebop concerts or working in speedway pits every weekend their hearing is shot and could someone please turn down the damn music.
Which brings us to the Bentley Group’s new King Clarence, which can be found (surprise) at the corner of King and Clarence in the city, in that interesting nook of town where old buildings are being used for fun things (take note, developers).
It’s the sort of place readers will likely be familiar with.
Tables and chairs but no tablecloths. Exposed concrete ceiling and lots of pipes up above, like the builder went bust a week before opening.
And super loud very hip music that makes conversation difficult for anyone over 42 (“What is this? Do you have Shazam?” “No, I don’t think they serve ham!”).
None of this is to fault the food of Khanh Nguyen, which is great fun and does not miss a trick.
This guy and his whole team embody an ethic all too rare in this world.
To put it simply, Khanh and company are people who know what they are doing and why they are doing it, and have organised around a temptingly “one of everything” menu that does the standard smaller-to-bigger thing.
The other day a little group of us smashed our way through the menu, with highlights not limited to a sort of filet o’ fish tribute bao complete with a little square of American cheese, ground duck ‘tsuknue’ skewers glazed in rich tare with a little mix-it-yourself egg yolk dipping sauce, and little snacks of creamy chicken livers on vegemite toast.
“It’s Australian miso,” one of us declared.
We sort of felt like this was the sort of food that rewarded lots of small nibbles rather than going at large plates: We enjoyed the crab fried rice, but a perfectly executed pork belly ssam (DIY wrap it up in lettuce leaves kinda business) was possibly too much by the end.
So let’s just put it like this.
If one is looking for some really, really fun, punchy modern Asian, check in with a group of mates and get a big table at King Clarence.
If one is looking to enjoy this meal with conversation that is at all conspiratorial, intellectual, or romantic … well, the Bentley folks have plenty of other offerings.
— The Mouth is an undercover critic and bon vivant who pays his own way around Sydney and beyond.
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