Just Opened: Darling Glebe

Darling Glebe is one of Sydney’s most atmospheric restaurants, set inside a historic sandstone building on Glebe Point Road. Formerly Beckett's, it was inspired by the legendary Darling Mills restaurant. With white tablecloths, candlelit tables and an end-of-meal little ghost tour, it's perfect for a special occasion or anniversary. Find out what the food is like now and what is a must order.

It's a Wednesday night when Mr NQN and I arrive at Darling Glebe for our anniversary dinner. It's the perfect spot for it - as soon as you enter the historical building it feels like you're entering a cave or a clandestine club as the noise from the busy street outside dissipates. The restaurant is polished, with white tablecloths and widely spaced tables. We're not the only ones that feel this way with other tables taken by young couples on dates.

This space on Glebe Point Road was most recently Beckett's with Chef Jeff Schroeter at the helm. Darling Glebe is still his but has been renamed as a nod to one of its most famous tenancies, Darling Mills restaurant. The building was first constructed in 1857 by Edmund Blacket and had several owners before the Adey family undertook a 13 year renovation opening it as Darling Mills in 1987.

They utilised sandstone from a nearby church that had burnt down, giving the space its current hallowed look. Darling Mills restaurant championed paddock to plate food and when they closed in 2003 the family moved onto farming specialising in microherbs, gourmet salad leaves and edible flowers. If the space looks familiar, the building plays host to several tv shows and movies.

The Ferrari martini bar is named not after the car manufacturer but by the Rome born stonemason Sergio Ferrari who helped create the building. Chef Jeff Schroeter has cooked for everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to Madonna and Karl Lagerfeld and for him, the room with its rich history speaks to him.

Service is friendly and attentive and Mr NQN starts with The Chef's Martini which is their signature drink made with Plymouth gin and Dolin dry vermouth with a bit of olive brine. I enjoy the Gibson, a softer cousin of the martini with Archie Rose Gin, Dolin Dry Vermouth, house onion brine, umami seasoning and two crisp, pink cocktail onions.

We start with half a dozen oysters which are tied to the building's history. "The dentist (Dr Alfred Adey) ate 12 oysters every night that's why they built the restaurant," explains Jeff. These are Appellation oysters that Jeff keeps alive in the fridge downstairs at 12C/53.6F to plump up and absorb their own juice and fatten up for a week. "We don't rinse them, we just open and turn them," says Jeff. And these oysters are served with a lemon as well as a raspberry vinegar mignonette. The oysters are fat and juicy with a nice briney flavour that goes well with the sweet, tangy mignonette. Note to self: try raspberry vinegar when making mignonette!

Next is a beetroot and Archie Rose gin cured salmon. Jeff explains that the gin is used to lift the fat content of the salmon and serves to open up the pores of the salmon. It is then air dried in the fridge for 24 hours. The salmon is served with crushed cucumbers, finely shaved fennel, microherbs and a simple dressing of lemon and olive oil with Yarra Valley salmon pearls on top and red beetroot reduction to finish.

Tonight Jeff is picking his favourite dishes for us and I'm glad to see more oysters arrive. The Oysters Rockerfeller is one that he rediscovered a year ago. The original recipe for Oysters Rockerfeller came from Louisiana in the late 1800s by Jules Alciatore, the son of the founder of Antoine's, a famous French restaurant. They created this when there was a shortage of escargot so they adapted the escargot recipe using oysters. It was named after the richest man in America John D. Rockerfeller as it is very rich in butter. "I looked at three old recipes that people have in their restaurant and then I looked at what cheese they could get a hold of in Louisiana in the late 1800s and the Italians were making a cow's milk pecorino." This cheese is the key to Jeff's Oysters Rockerfeller. He uses Pacific Oysters as Sydney Rock Oysters are too delicate and lots of butter and herbs and a blanket of breadcrumbs on top.

The next dish is one of my favourites and features freshly caught Ulladulla snapper paired with sweet blistered heirloom cherry tomatoes. These give the perfectly cooked fish acidity and sweetness and are perfectly paired with Greek mammoth olive cheeks topped with lightly roasted fioretto and crunchy ice plant.

Another must order is the Escargots en Cocotte. Typically escargot are served in the shell but Jeff didn't want to do that as they can be fiddly for chefs and difficult for diners to eat. "When I got this place 5 years ago the room told me to put the escargot dish on. The room talks to me, there's so much food history here," he explains. There are half a dozen snails baked with garlic butter, tomato concasse, sautéed spinach and a butter puff pastry lid. Sometimes with escargot it's just garlic butter which is nice enough but the tomatoes give it body and sweetness and that lid of buttery puff pastry is the perfect finishing touch.

As someone that usually dislikes strawberries in savoury dishes I was skeptical of the strawberry foie gras. The idea for it comes from when Jeff worked at the Royalton Hotel on 44th street, New York where it was known as the "Conde Nast cafeteria". Jeff cooked canapes for Anna Wintour every month in her brownstone when each new magazine issue came out. And Jeff is happy to tell you stories of Anna handing the kitchen a tin of tuna and asking for it to be served atop a salad or ordering her favourite hamburger made with chopped up eye fillet (no sauces!). At the Royalton hotel, they usually served foie gras with grapes and figs. On a Sunday late service people were still ordering foie gras but they had run out of fruit and they only had strawberries left. They poached the strawberries and served it with foie gras and aged balsamic and it was an instant hit that Jeff has resurrected here. And it's superb, the strawberries perfectly balancing the rich foie gras. It is another must order along with the escargot and natural oysters.

We are getting into mains territory and this is a dish inspired by Jeff's wife who hails from Sardinia where lemon chicken is prevalent. It's a butterflied charcoal roasted whole spatchcock with wilted local snake beans, tomato, preserved lemon & red elk. The breast is succulent and tender, although my pick is always the darker meat that sings with flavour.

Takeda Ten is a type of wagyu named after Shogo Takeda, a Japanese wagyu pioneer who put a herd together of wagyu after coming to Australia in the 1970s. Takeda Ten is a 9+ marble score served medium rare and is tender and served with a nutmeg scented Pommes dauphinoise, sautéed cultivated mushrooms and a rich Périgueux sauce where you could just lick the plate to get every last drop.

And to finish we have a coffee creme brulee. This is made with Little Marionette coffee and served with a crisp coco tuile. The brulee has a thin, crisp toffee layer and a smooth, velvety custard underneath. Perfect for the end of a gorgeous meal.

And at the end of a meal, if guests ask nicely, Jeff is happy to give them a "ghost tour" of the building showing glass etchings by the late Lalique glass artist Anna Dybka and the subterranean wine cellar, after whom the private dining room is named. "The room is more like an heirloom to Sydney dining," says Jeff.

So tell me Dear Reader, if you were celebrating an anniversary, what sort of restaurant would you choose? Would you ask for a ghost tour?

Darling Glebe

134A Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW 2037

Phone: (02) 9360 1107

Open 5pm-12am Wednesday to Saturday

Sunday 5pm-10pm

Closed Monday and Tuesday

darlingglebe.com.au