Executive chef Harry Stockdale-Powell (ex-Rockpool 1989 and Marque) and business partner Emma Darrouzet will open new restaurant and bar, Bouche on Bridge, on 20 September.
Bouche will offer a modern European dining and bar experience, with the 80-seater venue to cater for lunch and dinner six days a week, while the 60-seater basement bar will serve drinks and light snacks from 4pm.
The contemporary dining menu is influenced by Stockdale-Powell's experience both in Australia and Europe and designed to showcase local produce in a sustainable way. A rare breed of suckling pig will be served with unripe fermented strawberries, with pig and strawberries reared and produced on the same Tasmanian berry farm.
“I spent a couple of weeks in Tasmania recently visiting incredible farmers to find the right partners for Bouche on Bridge and feel we’ve found some of the best in the country,” said Stockdale-Powell. “The passion, time and care they put in to produce this kind of quality meant it was often the farmers interviewing me to make sure that I was going to carry that on into the kitchen. I can’t wait to show our diners this level of Australian produce and what we can do with it.”
Dishes are designed to share, with the menu organised by categories. 'The land' section will include dishes like onion tart tatin with parmesan ice-cream or white asparagus, sorrel and native grains, while 'the farm' will include whole hay smoked chicken with white soy bread sauce and 'the sea' will include Bruny Island trevalla, sea urchin butter and bottarga. Stockdale-Powell will use as many cuts of the same animal as possible over the course of the day to minimise waste and help to educate diners about lesser-known cuts such as Black Angus tri-tip. The kitchen team will keep produce in-house wherever possible; bread, cultured butter, cold-pressed olive oil and cured meats will all be made on-site.
The food will be complemented by a 300-strong wine list, hand-selected by head sommelier Seamus Brandt (ex Rockpool Bar & Grill). The wine list highlights the diversity of new world wine as well as the classics, including some interesting sparkling and still wines available by the glass.
The cocktail list, curated by head bartender Matt Linklater (ex-Bulletin Place), will focus on sustainability as well, featuring drinks including the ‘chyeahright’, which sits somewhere between an old fashion and a negroni with black rum cynar, cherry ferment; and ‘crustbuster’, featuring cognac, fennel, strega with a liquorice rim.
The 60-seater wine and cocktail bar The Cellar at Bouche, will feature a weekly-rotating menu of bites, oysters, cured meats and cheeses. Minimising waste will be a focus for the bar also, with Linklater taking advantage of off cuts such as pineapple skin, spine and pulp and utilising these to create cocktails.
Bouche on Bridge restaurant will be open Monday–Friday from 12pm to 11pm and Saturday from 5pm to 11pm. The bar will be open Monday–Saturday from 4pm to midnight.