The Mouth visits Clam Bar: A New York steakhouse with New York prices. In Sydney

Start spreading the news: The food at Clam Bar is top notch. But at an insane $210 for the porterhouse The Mouth feels like next time maybe opt for the lamb chop.

New York strip at Clam Bar. Picture: Instagram

Because it seems to be impossible to open a restaurant in Sydney these days without it being a “take” on something they do somewhere else in the world, it was inevitable that one of these days we would get a proper New York steakhouse.

Welcome to Clam Bar, the much-hyped latest effort of the mob behind the genuinely excellent Bistrot 916 and Pellegrino 2000.

By a happy coincidence, we happened to have a New Yorker along with us when we visited on a recent weeknight.

Our hope was that he would be able to tell us whether the owners had met the brief.

But from the moment we sat down our Big Apple visitor seemed inexplicably out of sorts, like a Jack Russell terrier who knows an earthquake is coming but doesn’t have the words to explain.

Clam Bar is doing everything right. Picture: Supplied

Seafood dishes hit every mark. Picture: Supplied

Martinis came — ice cold, the way God intended, in slightly heterodox V-shaped glasses – as did lots of yummy seafood things.

Oysters Rockefeller, scallops casino, the menu almost veered into parody, except this was all top hole stuff, perfectly cooked, and no need to hide behind irony.

Before … Picture: Supplied

After. Supplied

Then, our friend spoke.

Having surveyed the honeycombed coffered ceiling, and the overpriced T-shirts on every other guy in the place, and the fish on the wall, and the art deco touches that carry inside from the restaurant’s heritage-listed exterior, he said, “You know what?”

“This isn’t a New York steakhouse. It’s a Miami outpost of a New York steakhouse. Once you get that, it all makes sense.”

Like a summer storm breaking, suddenly it was all coolness and light.

Our friend – indeed all of us – enjoyed a feast in an atmosphere that is kind of a party, albeit an expensive one.

And let us just say, there was nothing we did not enjoy.

All the shellfish was perfect, the sides were almost the star of the show (who doesn’t love creamed spinach, or fries fried in beef fat, though a macaroni vodka with all the little tubes baked standing on end would give a tropophobe a heart attack).

We also shared a 600g ribeye and a 1kg porterhouse and loved all the little condiments including, finally, a properly made bearnaise where someone has gone to the trouble of clarifying the butter and so on.

While both were very good at an insane $210 for the porterhouse we feel like next time we might get the lamb chop. Though when they’re charging $38 for a tin of anchovies and bread, well, it’s almost a bargain.

At least they got the New York prices right.

Clam Bar, 44 Bridge Street, Sydney

— The Mouth is an anonymous critic and bon vivant who pays his own way around Sydney and beyond.