The Bridge Room
Restaurant Review by Franz Scheurer
Ross and Sunny Lusted have in an incredible amount of hospitality experience from all around the world and I have maintained for years, that Ross Lusted is the best chef Sydney ever lost when he and Sunny decided that they wanted to work overseas. Thankfully, eventually, they decided it was time to come home and with the help of the Fink Group they opened The Bridge Room.
The Bridge Room is a modern 60-seater restaurant where attention to details was obviously of foremost concern. The chairs, despite having arm rests don’t hem me in. (I hate it when the chair gets up with me unasked…)
The banquettes are just as comfortable and the banquette cushions are deeper and the tables slightly lower than normal restaurant height, all factors in making you ultra comfortable. There are no table legs in the way and ladies can easily cross their legs under the table. So far: win.
Table settings are simple. No table cloths but felt circles, good flat and glass ware and the noise levels are superbly low. The menu font is easy to read and the light levels are high enough that even visually challenged patrons can easily read menu or wine list. The staff is very knowledgeable, slick and efficient without forgetting to smile.
On our last
visit we started with a ‘Salad
of organic heirloom carrots, ash grilled, baked in salt and raw, fresh curd’, ‘Split
king prawns grilled over charcoal, Mandarin peel butter, soft green herbs’, ‘Scallop,
buttered corn, osmanthus flower, biltong, burnt butter, thyme leaves’, ‘Raw,
wagyu shoulder, smoked enoki mushrooms, celtic sea salt, horseradish, pickled
chili and a daily special of sweetbreads sitting on a roasted onion puree.
Each and every entrée was stunning;
the selection of tiny heirloom carrots full of earthy flavour, the mandarin butter
lifting the prawns from good to great, sweet succulent scallops, superbly
cooked sweatbreads and the dish of the day: the raw wagyu. Even our resident
quasi-vegetarian agreed. Beautiful quality meat, thinly shaved, spicy and
moreish.
For mains we tried ‘Chicken, white
cut, with its broth, ginger, roasted garlic, sprouts and new season brown rice’,
‘Ash grilled duck, vincotto set figs, mustard fruits, broccolini’, ‘David
Blackmore’s wagyu, slow cooked veal tongue, duck egg dressing, potato puree,
green onion’ and the ‘Roasted swordfish, softened celery root, roasted olives,
black cabbage. The chicken was so good Malaysian foodies would travel miles to
sample a dish like this and the wagyu with the finely shredded tongue was
superb. The swordfish, perfectly cooked really benefitted from the celeriac and
the duck was, in my opinion, one dimensional and too sweet. Mind you, not
everyone at the table agreed with this.
We shared a couple of desserts, the
‘Strawberry marshmallow meringue, Strawberry ripple, strawberry paper, yoghurt’
and the incredible ‘Burnt caramel cream, candied beurre bosc pears, pistachio
crumb, mint salad’. I have another six of those, thanks!
It’s fantastic to see that the food
is to totally Ross Lusted. Ross cooks from the heart and you can taste it. One
of our dining party commented “it’s hugely
refreshing to see food that is progressive but not leaning either on foamy,
smeary technique or copycat artfully placed borage flowers and radishes”. I would rate his food amongst the
best in this city and I can’t wait for the staff to settle into a well-oiled
team. This place is superb right now, but it’s the potential I see within a few
very short months that should put The Bridge Room at the sharp edge of
innovation versus customer comfort and satisfaction.
Score: 8/10
Noise: 60 db
Would I go again: No doubt
Best dish: The raw wagyu
For more information and bookings:
The Bridge Room
Sydney
Tel.: 02 9247 7000