Ates

Fire-fuelled cooking with a large serve of hospitality.

November 11, 2024

1 / 7Charcoal grilled market fish.Supplied

4 / 7The main dining room. Edwina Pickles

5 / 7Wood-roasted half duck with burnt butter and mandarin. Edwina Pickles

6 / 7Hiramasa kingfish with mushroom soy. Supplied.

7 / 7Clarence river octopus with tarator. Supplied

15/20

Mediterranean$$

Dark-crusted focaccia spangled with salt. Charry kingfish collars drowning in chicken-skin butter. Burnished free-range duck in anise-scented sauce, roasted quince riding shotgun. Yep, the wood-fire is burning hot in Blackheath, but that doesn’t mean Ates is all about the oven.

How could it be, when there’s a 20-year old magnum of Clarendon Hill cabernet going around the room “just because”, or an opera gateau on for dessert, intricately layered with coffee and chocolate? No, this is about mountains produce and hospitality, about impassioned staff who are here to facilitate, about neighbours and visitors enjoying big nights out and casual catch-ups alike.

Then there’s the snacks: an onion tartlet piped with comte custard; fried potato “bon bons” with house-cured guanciale and guindilla peppers; wicked Jersey-milk ricotta with fat golden raisins and hazelnuts.

Preface it with cocktails at nearby Side B vinyl bar, and it’s a perfect Blue Mountains moment.