Where: Burlington Bar and Dining
At: 6 Burlington Rd, Crows Nest, NSW
Style: Modern Australian
Business category: Bistro
WHEN a very well known chef from one of your favourite restaurants opens a new restaurant it is only natural that you head there with high expectations from the food.
And when his partner is one of the best in the business when it comes to front of house then you are also sure that the start-up will have pretty top level service as well.
That’s just what was in my head when I wandered along to the new Burlington Bar and Dining restaurant from the owners of Randwick’s Balzac restaurant—chef Matt Kemp and partner Lela Radojkovic—for the first time. As soon as we arrive we see that that the great service has been transplanted straight into The Burlington.
While Kemp has been present in the kitchen for the start-up it’s head chef Chad Muir, who’s worked at London’s Pied a Terre, who has the reins at Burlington. The menu is simple and pared down—all but two of the 12 dishes are offered in two sizes, for entrée or as a main.
We bypass the one kilogram Rib Eye of dry aged Aberdeen Angus beef ($75)and go for the 500gm which turns out to be a great piece of meat served on the bone accompanied by a generous bowl of goldenhand cut chips with some rich béarnaise sauce served in a jug on the side.
The Terrine of Smoked Ham Hock and Pork Cheek looks set to become one of Muir’s signature dishes at The Burlington with it tasty honesty of lovely porkie chunkss and finely cut vegetables ($12/$18). It’s served with a couple of pieces of ear ‘beignet’ perched on top.
The Deep Sea Bream with a Potato and Rosemary ‘pizza’ ($15/$24) is a small but perfectly formed piece of moist fish with crisp skin atop a couple of tasty spheres of thin potato and rosemary accompanied by salty capers and caperberries.
The Barbecued Spatchcock with Green Olives, Lemon and Thyme is similiarly a combination of simple ingredients prepared well. The olives are, however, a little overpowered I think by the tastiness of the bird and the lemoniness of the dressing. Their bright green colour, however, make it a spectacular looking dish.
One of the other great ideas at the Burlington is that each of the 20 plus wines on the wine list is sold not only by the glass but also in 250ml and 375 serves—each presented in dinky little personal carafes.
The dessert menu is comfortingly compact—four dishes plus a cheese, all at $12, but has plenty to satisfy. The Eton mess with plums and raspberries is over the top decadence, a smash of meringue, cream, tart raspberries and poached plums while the Bitter Chocolate Marquis is all class with its adult dark chocolate flavour and delicate stachio anglais and a scattering of pistachios.