NewsBite

Advertisement

Bopp & Tone steaks a claim in Sydney's CBD lunch market

Terry Durack
Terry Durack

300g grass-fed Brooklyn Valley rib eye with grilled lemon and black garlic barbecue sauce.
300g grass-fed Brooklyn Valley rib eye with grilled lemon and black garlic barbecue sauce.Edwina Pickles

14/20

Contemporary$$

Advertisement
The Carrington Street venue.
The Carrington Street venue.Edwina Pickles

Anyone who says nobody is eating red meat any more hasn't dropped in to Bopp & Tone for lunch. It's steak for days, hot off an American-made Grillworks wood-fired grill brought in from the United States at great expense ($80,000).

While it ramps the heat up to Hades, it also allows the chef to raise and lower the grill over a span of 45 centimetres.

While it's rare for me to order a steak for lunch – about as rare as making an appallingly meaty pun, perhaps – I'd have to say "well done" to Bopp & Tone for managing to deliver pretty much what you want in a steak when you want a steak for lunch.

Baked mozzarella in lemon leaves.
Baked mozzarella in lemon leaves.Edwina Pickles
Advertisement

The 300-gram Brooklyn Valley grass-fed black angus rib-eye ($53) comes precisely the way I ordered it.

The "between rare and medium-rare but closer to the rare" order means there's enough time on the grill to achieve crust and char and not enough time to cook the life out of it.

This meat moves to the touch of a fork, as darkly crimson as a fit of rage; not set in a single shade of ruby-red from one side to the other but offering different, interesting gradations on the theme.

Mooloolaba king prawns.
Mooloolaba king prawns. Edwina Pickles

Along with a gleaming Josper charcoal oven, the grill is the heart and soul of the latest offering from Applejack Hospitality's Ben Carroll and Hamish Watts of The Botanist, The Butler and Social Neutral Bay.

Advertisement

Named for the pair's grandfathers, Keith "Bopp" Evans and Anthony "Tone" Adams, the former Steel Bar & Grill has been flipped into a theatrical post-colonial dining room and light-filled alfresco terrace by Luchetti Krelle.

You've heard of comfort food? This is comfort decor; all marble, timber and velvet, bentwood chairs, revolving fans and traveller palms.

Whole Hawkesbury River calamari.
Whole Hawkesbury River calamari.Edwina Pickles

Head chef Sa Va'afasuaga​ and exec chef Jason Roberson​ soften the steak offering with Mediterranean vibes – cured meat platters, pork and veal tonnato, pipis with fregola.

An appetiser of baked mozzarella on lemon leaves ($17) comes via Capri with a nice smoky citrusy tang, although the cheese has the firm texture of haloumi, and butterflied Mooloolaba king prawns with garlic, chilli and oregano ($9 each) could have done with less time on the Josper.

Advertisement

Three small, whole, precisely scored Hawkesbury River calamari ($29) sing with smoke and sweetness, with a pool of black ink aioli and blackened lemon; their spindly cartwheels of tentacles a value-added bonus.

That steak, by the way, comes with lemon cheek and a slick of tangy black garlic barbecue sauce. Salt-and-vinegar fries ($9) are fun on the side.

It seems people still drink at lunchtime, too; and there are plenty of options by the glass.

A savoury Big Easy Radio 2016 Cosmic Antennae tempranillo/touriga ($14) from McLaren Vale, is typical of the fashion-forward wine list.

Oh, boring – custard tart ($15) is deconstructed into chunky shards of crisp pastry, interleaved with roasted, not-quite-ripe peach and patisserie cream that prove once again that a whole tart is greater than the sum of its deconstructed parts.

Advertisement

And in a final report from the city dining trenches, who knew that nobody orders espresso coffee anymore? Instead, it's cheeky espresso martinis all round – on a Friday, at least.

Steaks, red wines, comfort decor, happy hours – Bopp & Tone slots easily into the CBD business culture, cooked somewhere between medium and well done.

The low-down

Bopp & Tone

Drinks: Classic cocktails made with Australian ingredients, craft beers and a "cool kids" natural-leaning wine list

Advertisement

Vegetarian: A Botanical section lists six plant-based dishes, which can be vegan on request

Go-to dish: 300g grass-fed Brooklyn Valley rib-eye steak, $53

Pro tip: There's a $25 quick smart lunch menu available from the bar from Monday to Thursday

Continue this series

Sydney restaurant reviews
Up next
Pizza marinara scattered with optional Ortiz anchovies.

Beauty in simplicity at Newtown's Bella Brutta

Bella Brutta exists in a sort of parallel universe to the likes of Domino's with an emphasis on hand-made and seasonal.

Totti's Neapolitan ice-cream sandwich.

Soak up the sunshine at Totti's in Bondi

Eating outside is such a dreamy, summery thing to do in the big, piazza-like courtyard of The Royal in Bondi.

Previous
Go-to dish: a reimagined bouillabaisse.

Could this revamped beachside icon be Sydney's summer hot spot?

It's the biggest facelift the Bathers' Pavilion has had for a couple of decades.

See all stories

Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.

Sign up
Terry DurackTerry Durack is the chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and Good Food.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/bopp--tone-review-20190402-h1d35c.html