The group behind Loulou Bistro in Sydney’s Lavender Bay is gearing up to launch three new venues in the CBD on 21 October.
Etymon Projects will open The Charles Brasserie & Bar and Tiva in an Art Deco building on the corner of King and York Streets.
The Charles will offer guests an all-day European-style café and restaurant experience, serving coffee and breakfast, snacks and larger courses as well as cocktails and wine over lunch and dinner services.
“The Charles celebrates the charm of old-school hospitality without the stuffiness,” says Group Culinary Director Sebastien Lutaud.
“The grand brasserie experience is elegant and decadent, but with ambience too. A busy, open kitchen; duck press on the pass; tableside saucing and carving and roving dessert trolleys create a wonderful sense of theatre that’s reminiscent of the warm and welcoming brasseries of Europe.”
Group Executive Chef Billy Hannigan is behind the menu, which is inspired by modern European fare.
Guests can expect cooked and raw seafood across caviar service and a mud crab dish served with fennel cream with soft pretzel.
Entrees will encompass a steak and anchovy tartare with baby gem hearts and brown butter-poached marron with peas and ham.
Mains include sweetbread and crayfish vol-au-vent, schnitzel à la Viennese topped with salted roe and iron steak or snapper with Caesar salad.
House specialties include Black Opal Wagyu rump cap MBS9+ and canard à la presse (whole dry-aged Maremma roasted and pressed duck), which sees the protein aged over a period of 10 days in a dedicated duck and poultry room which has room for 100 birds at a time.
A dessert trolley will be filled with house-baked cakes, desserts and petit fours delivered tableside during lunch and dinner.
Next door, the Charles Bar will deliver a casual experience with freshly baked croissants and pastries as well as a menu charting melon and Jamón ibérico and duck eggs with toasted brioche topped with caviar.
The venue will move to a bar offering from 11am, which includes dishes such as gnocchi frite with caviar and bottarga; chicken liver parfait with cornichons and marinated sardines with fennel.
Basement lounge Tiva will revolve around live music, Champagne and cocktails, officially opening to the public on 21 October beneath The Charles Grand Brasserie & Bar.
Director of Bars Jonothan Carr says Champagne will be served in coupette glassware, with cocktails crafted using top-shelf spirits.
“Tiva is a place you want to settle in to enjoy the music,” he says. “High-end spirits, elegant cocktails, Champagne and table service with some understated theatre are the ultimate support act to the incredible entertainment planned,” he says.
The cocktail list will see drinks made with a considered approach. The bar’s espresso martini features coffee made in a French press, single-malt whiskey and Cognac served in three-piece decanters and a tableside tequila martini teamed with rose vermouth.
Snacks cover hash browns with roasted chicken cream and mussels wrapped in nori served with whipped roe, with larger plates including steak tartare with house crumpets, a Moreton Bay bug sandwich and shaved Wagyu with black garlic and wasabi.
Revolving DJs and live performers will take the stage at the venue seven nights a week.
The Charles Grand Brasserie is open seven days from 12pm to 12am, with The Charles Bar open seven days from 7am to 12am.
Tiva is open for walk-ins and bookings from 4pm until late.