I was curious about Bentley Restaurant & Bar. It’s one of the latest restaurants with a bit of a buzz about it, and one of those places that only has two seatings, you can either dine at 6.30pm or 8.30pm. For me, when it used to be a bar it wasn’t anything to particularly write home about but when the restaurant came about in its current incarnation, suddenly people were.
It’s very darkly lit with a tree and foliage theme with leaves cut out of the red perspex partitions and a cut out “tree” on the side of the wall. We contemplate the menu, there’s a range of tapas as well as an a la carte entree and main section. I opt for two entrees while Gina opts for an entree to be made into a main size and Teena orders a main.
While we are waiting, the bread with olive oil, not something I usually partake of, is demolished by yours truly as it is absolutely scrumptious. And before you ask, as I would, if they gave us only two slices for the three of us, they did not, the two slices above were my share 
Chickpea chips $8
We ordered the chickpea chips as we had no idea what to expect. Once we had done so, I had flashbacks to the awful polenta chips I had eaten at Icebergs but thankfully these aren’t anything like those. They’re hot and crunchy with a dried chickpea exterior resembling semolina or polenta. The Hummous is very creamy, much more creamy than Hummous usually is and they’re quite good and restorative in the chest in the way that hot chips are in the cold.
Basil Pudding with sweetcorn puree, zucchini flower and asparagus $18
My basil pudding (and the pork following) reminds me of the food that I had at Foliage in London (so resembled it that I had a look at the Bentley website to see where the chef had previously worked, not at Foliage it turns out). It’s all pretty little pieces artistically put together with a brush of sauce or a tangle of delicate leaves placed just so, where everything must be eaten together. The basil pudding cleverly resembles broccoli florets and it’s a melange of flavours where everything does mould together nicely and quite unusual at that. However I am a little disappointed that the zucchini flower, one of my favourite ingredients is simply two petals. Deep fried stuffed zucchini flowers are heaven on earth and I was looking forward to some.
Caramelised Pork Cheek with beetroot and smoked salmon ravioli $23
The caramelised pork cheek is simply a fall apart soft slice of heaven. It’s so soft and gorgeous I could happily eat several more of these pieces in silence, murmuring occasionally. The ravioli is not what I expected, instead of pasta on the outside, it’s thinly sliced raw beetroot which has a radish like texture and the smoked salmon inside is liquid. I am not so enamoured of the ravioli outer. It’s a touch underseasoned and there is no salt or pepper on the table which I find a bit presumptuous.
Slow cooked Berkshire Pork Neck with Congo Potato Puree and Globe Artichokes $33
Teena assures us that the pork neck was good but is perplexed by the crackling which looks to have been separated and then deep fried giving it a prawn cracker consistency. The congo potato puree is certainly interesting, resembling chocolate or red bean puree and with a flavour impossible to pinpoint (although it is not potato-ey).
Chocolate Ganache with orange oil $6
We’re not particularly taken by the dessert menu but we do select some smaller items. Gina’s Chocolate Ganache scoop, is a strong bittersweet chocolate with a real kick of heady orange oil. It’s overpowering and she leaves most of it as it is a large scoop.
Toasted Banana Marshmallow with warm banana milk $6
My toasted banana marshmallow is deliciously delicately light and fluffy, I wonder how they managed to put this on the plate it seems like it would fly away with a strong breath. The warm banana milk is also good but it’s very disappointing to see that the small cup is only 1/4 full of milk, the rest is actually foam. I get three tiny sips out of it and that’s all. The chocolate straw is crunchy with a toffee like texture but given how little there is of the milk, a little obsolete.
Hot Ricotta Dumplings $6
Teena’s Hot ricotta dumplings with strawberry sauce (which resembles tomato sauce) are a fluffy eggy concoction tasting more of souffle than ricotta.
By this time, all of the 6.30pm diners are given their bills, even if they’re mid dessert and urged to settle them, albeit with a smile. We’re intrigued and perplexed by our meals. What you order is always not always what you get, but rather a chef’s interpretation thereof which is not a bad thing at all, as long as you don’t have any cravings or preconceptions.
Bentley Restaurant and Bar
320 Crown Street Darlinghurst Sydney 2010
Tel: +61 (02) 9332 2344
Open: Tuesday to Saturday 12noon til late
http://www.thebentley.com.au/
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS
17 Comments | Add your own
I’ve been wanting to go here as all the mainstream media reviews are very good. But that food looks somewhat inaccessible to me. A bit like the degustation menu I read the other day for Oscillate Wildly in Newtown. Listed no dishes, just ingredients, so you couldn’t figure out what went with what…
Hmm.. interesting. I need to revisit Bentley, I think. It’s been a long time. You should go to Bodega, Lorraine. I have a feeling you would love the place.
We went here a few months ago and had the most sublime dinner we’ve had in ages.
The carrot cake with olive sorbet was out of this world.
It’s my new fave restaurant and am craving those chickpea chips dreadfully. *drool*
Great review Lorraine!
What a surprise re: the “ravioli” (?#!?)
I don’t think the zucchini flower should have been mentioned as part of the dish description because it was just a garnish.
The ricotta dumplings look most appealing to me.. but that’s probably because I’m wishing for them to be yeast cinnamon doughnuts.
Hi Reemski-Yes it gets great reviews but it’s interesting that you mentioned Oscillate Wildly, we were thinking of going there but weren’t sure.
Hi Y-I think it has changed quite recently so it may be quite different from your last visit if that was a while ago. I know, I have Bodega on my “to eat list”
Too many places, not enough time!
Hi Belimda-Was it an olive oil sorbet or an olive sorbet? I don’t think we saw that on the menu. I wouldn’t even know how to even start making those chickpea chips!
Hi Maria-It was a cold night so I was looking forward to some carbs so I was a bit dismayed when I saw the beetroot. Although I think that if you came not craving anything you’d be happy at the creativity, but if you are craving or expecting something, you may end up disappointed somewhat. And I agree about the zucchini flowers!
i’ll save the room in my belly for dessert–yum! i’ve never heard of chickpea chips, but they look fabulous and delicious, especially with hummus.
This sounds most interesting indeed! The pork cheek and neck just looks and sounds divinnee and the desserts look so good too but sounds like they can be better. Mmmm must try this place thhxx^^!
i went to bentley for lunch earlier in the year, and we were running about 20 minutes late. i called to let them know to save our reservation, and the guy on the phone said it would be no problem. and really it wasn’t, because when we got there there was one other table occupied, and it pretty much stayed that way for the entire time we were there — a couple of hours from 12.30. i don’t know if that’s typical, but if you want a more leisurely meal, perhaps lunchtime is the way to go. plus they do a $50 tasting menu.
we ordered mainly tapas, but an order of the pork cheek to share, and when it was brought to the table, we were pleased and impressed that the kitchen had plated them into two small individual serves.
truly, it was one of the most interesting and delicious meals we’d ever had. the waiters though, were alternately icy and surly.
Hi grace-I’m trying to figure out how they make them. I think it’s pureed chickpeas shaped into a chip shape and baked like that or frozen and deep fried. Either way it’s great!
Hi FFichiban-It’s definitely different from your usual restaurant. The desserts we ordered were not quite desserts but smaller desserts so they had more unusual sounding items although on paper they didn’t really do it for us so we got these instead
Hi bowb-That sounds like a much more leisurely experience and a $50 tasting menu is great value. I wonder if they still do that?
Not a great combination of waiter traits I must say!
I quite like Bentley and have been twice. The chickpea chips are quite different. Last time we went, we had every tapas on the menu, which was quite a good amount for 5 people. The anchovy stick is awesome!
The toasted marshmellow and ricotta as desserts are recommended too!
It was black olive sorbet, as black as black can be and it salty and sweet. Am drooling now just thinking of it. We had the dessert degustation – yum.
Hi Teresa-I saw the table next to us had some tapas and they looked great. I’ll keep the tapas in mind-5 people for all the tapas dishes you say. Sounds good!
Hi Belimda-Ah ok, I don’t think we had that option although there was an olive oil ice cream which didn’t appeal to my friends and I as two of us had already tried it at different places.
Hmmm, I’ve been here a few times for drinks but have never considered going for dinner…until now of course. Might have to revisit. And I’m just grateful for a restaurant on Crown St that actually takes bookings, even if they are for sittings!
You did order very different things from my visit
1 thing that I didn’t get to have there was the dessert 
The gang that I went with weren’t a dessert bunch..
i dont know if you come to brisbane or not? but there is a place up there called THE CROSSTOWN EATING HOUSE in wooloongabba.it is an amazing little place where everything is designed to share at the table with your friends or partner but not in the tapas style more like being at home with friends but the food is amazing delivers much more on the plate then the way it reads on the menu.I have been told that the chef was trained in sydney at such places as BANC,QUAY and ICEBERGS you really should drop in and have a look if you are up that way
2 Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] by how different it looked from other corner bars. I found about this place after spying it on NQN and immediately added it to the list. As you can see that post was about half a year ago haha but [...]
[...] for the Overseas Chef. The first session today is with Sergi Arola of La Broche restaurant and Brent Savage of Bentley Bar. Matt Preston is at the microphone with his deep, husky voice booming a greeting to all. There are [...]
Post a Comment