Happy New Year! I am starting off 2019 by writing my first food review of the year about a place that really impressed me recently. And that would be Chef Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar & Grill.
My boyfriend and I chose this place to celebrate our ~ first anniversary ~ at and we were not disappointed. I have to admit I had some hesitations because most of the recent reviews claim that this restaurant isn't as good as it used to be/people claim it to be but at the end of my experience, I fell very full and happy!
Rockpool Bar & Grill is located unsuspectingly on the corner of Bligh and Hunter St. The black stone entrance over the front of the old heritage building certainly gives the place a strong sense of prestige and presence.
Inside, Rockpool is even more beautiful than we expected with its high ceilings, elegant lighting and cool stone marble columns. Everything exudes such a posh and grand ambience which we find perfectly suited for the romantic evening.
I found it extremely difficult to get the attention of the waiting staff which was a bit frustrating, but whenever they did come around the service was always extremely friendly, helpful and polite. Not typically rude or condescending at all. We had one waiter who waited on us pretty much the entire night and he was fantastic! The interaction between the wait staff in general also seemed really good and it made us feel very comfortable.
You KNOW some fine dining is about to go down when they serve the complimentary bread and butter. And to be honest, I feel like this is usually an indicator of the tiny portions about to come but we were happy to be proved very wrong.
Shrub and soda is a home-made fruit concentrate with non-alcoholic champagne vinegar that has probiotic properties similar to kombucha. I'm a huge fan of kombucha so I knew I had to try this out! Patrick got the mango flavour which was sweet, tropical, fizzy and fruity. Really good. On the other hand, my strawberry drink didn't taste like strawberries at all. It had house-made dill lemonade mixed in and this made the entire drink taste like pickle juice. I came to enjoy it because I do like pickles (and I never thought I would enjoy drinking something like it)... but as I was originally after a refreshing drink I found this misleading to say the least.
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It took around half an hour for our mains to come out which is such a long time but in the name of good steak, we were happy to wait! We had napkins placed in our laps and one of the wait staff started trying to divide our mains equally between our two plates. We stopped him when we realised what was going on because we all know Patrick is just going to eat the meat while I'm still on the sides hehe :'(
I had never had wagyu like this before and it was INCREDIBLY GOOD. The steak was cooked medium rare (more towards the rare side but no one, no one is complaining) and perfectly seared as well as rested. The meat was so insanely tender that it truly almost melted in my mouth and it had a good amount of beefy flavour. It was not too salty as some reviews claimed and after trying it with the accompanying lemon wedge and bearnaise sauce, I never touched the sauce again. It's just perfect on it's own. I loved this so much.
Also another order for the wagyu because why go to an expensive steakhouse if you aren't going to try some of the best cuts they have to offer! This steak was also very good but paled so hard in comparison to the Denver. It didn't have the same tenderness or beefy flavour. The texture itself was more rugged and reminded me slightly of brisket. But I think if we didn't order the former then we would've loved this steak just as much!
The weird look Patrick gave me when he asked me what steak I was getting and I replied with the salad. I wasn't prepared for how big this bowl of salad would be. I feel like I am always surprised at salad servings!
Anyway the salad was pretty good! The amount of vinaigrette was on the heavy-handed side but I loved how it was sweetened with palm sugar. The radicchio was very bitter but balanced out by the sweet vinaigrette, cos lettuce and endives.
Probably our least favourite dish of the night which we unfortunately were keen and excited for. We were warned this dish was very carb heavy and filling and hence I decided not to order two other sides because of this. If I could go back, I'd probably not order this. The mac and cheese may be in quotation marks, but getting served penne pasta instead of macaroni still disappoints me. The cheese sauce was also very lumpy and gritty. It had the intense sharpness and bitterness of vintage cheddar cheese and a smoky taste from the speck. The first bite was great, but every other bite was not great at all. Wanted to love this, but unfortunately I didn't.
Another filling side dish but instead very, very impressive. I remember seeing a recipe for Blumenthal's duck-fat roasted potatoes and I have been dying to try out potatoes roasted in animal fats for so long. I tried to give it a go at home but it just did not work out good at all. Really glad I got these. The potatoes were nice and soft on the inside with the most amazing crisp layer on the outside. Generously seasoned with salt and rosemary it was a treat. The garlic flavours didn't come through to me but the cloves were in the bowl and so big, I mistook them for potatoes at some points.
Once again another issue with trying to flag down a wait person to ask them to clear the table as well as trying to get a dessert menu. We were both so full and satisfied at this point that we were thankful we didn't order three steaks. There's always room for dessert though!
The wait for dessert was nearly just as long as the wait for mains which was strange considering by then at 8:30pm the restaurant was mostly cleared out.
A huge slice of fluffy white pavlova with an equally huge piping of fresh cream. They weren't kidding when they said passionfruit pavlova. I kind of thought there might be other fruit but my bad. The pavlova was very marshmallow-y and the crunchy meringue sides were a treat. Still, the price and simplicity was slightly disappointing.
To end the night, Rockpool also surprised us with a moist chocolate cupcake adorning a candle on top. Such a nice little addition to our celebration! The chocolate cupcake was really nice and the fresh and cold cream they piped was the real cherry on top.
The waiter also took some cute polaroids for us which was so lovely.
My boyfriend and I chose this place to celebrate our ~ first anniversary ~ at and we were not disappointed. I have to admit I had some hesitations because most of the recent reviews claim that this restaurant isn't as good as it used to be/people claim it to be but at the end of my experience, I fell very full and happy!
Rockpool Bar & Grill is located unsuspectingly on the corner of Bligh and Hunter St. The black stone entrance over the front of the old heritage building certainly gives the place a strong sense of prestige and presence.
Inside, Rockpool is even more beautiful than we expected with its high ceilings, elegant lighting and cool stone marble columns. Everything exudes such a posh and grand ambience which we find perfectly suited for the romantic evening.
I found it extremely difficult to get the attention of the waiting staff which was a bit frustrating, but whenever they did come around the service was always extremely friendly, helpful and polite. Not typically rude or condescending at all. We had one waiter who waited on us pretty much the entire night and he was fantastic! The interaction between the wait staff in general also seemed really good and it made us feel very comfortable.
Complimentary bread and butter
You KNOW some fine dining is about to go down when they serve the complimentary bread and butter. And to be honest, I feel like this is usually an indicator of the tiny portions about to come but we were happy to be proved very wrong.
Shrub & Soda: Mango and Strawberry $12 each
Shrub and soda is a home-made fruit concentrate with non-alcoholic champagne vinegar that has probiotic properties similar to kombucha. I'm a huge fan of kombucha so I knew I had to try this out! Patrick got the mango flavour which was sweet, tropical, fizzy and fruity. Really good. On the other hand, my strawberry drink didn't taste like strawberries at all. It had house-made dill lemonade mixed in and this made the entire drink taste like pickle juice. I came to enjoy it because I do like pickles (and I never thought I would enjoy drinking something like it)... but as I was originally after a refreshing drink I found this misleading to say the least.
The lighting is not that ideal for photos in here and in the bright photos above it's really just my phone camera exposure turned all the way up.
It took around half an hour for our mains to come out which is such a long time but in the name of good steak, we were happy to wait! We had napkins placed in our laps and one of the wait staff started trying to divide our mains equally between our two plates. We stopped him when we realised what was going on because we all know Patrick is just going to eat the meat while I'm still on the sides hehe :'(
David Blackmore's Dry Aged Wagyu: Denver 240g, 28 days $95
I had never had wagyu like this before and it was INCREDIBLY GOOD. The steak was cooked medium rare (more towards the rare side but no one, no one is complaining) and perfectly seared as well as rested. The meat was so insanely tender that it truly almost melted in my mouth and it had a good amount of beefy flavour. It was not too salty as some reviews claimed and after trying it with the accompanying lemon wedge and bearnaise sauce, I never touched the sauce again. It's just perfect on it's own. I loved this so much.
Bearnaise sauce
David Blackmore's Dry Aged Wagyu: Eye of Chuck 300g, 28 days $75
Also another order for the wagyu because why go to an expensive steakhouse if you aren't going to try some of the best cuts they have to offer! This steak was also very good but paled so hard in comparison to the Denver. It didn't have the same tenderness or beefy flavour. The texture itself was more rugged and reminded me slightly of brisket. But I think if we didn't order the former then we would've loved this steak just as much!
Radicchio, cos and endive salad with palm sugar vinaigrette $9
Anyway the salad was pretty good! The amount of vinaigrette was on the heavy-handed side but I loved how it was sweetened with palm sugar. The radicchio was very bitter but balanced out by the sweet vinaigrette, cos lettuce and endives.
"Mac and Cheese" with Speck (small size) $12
Sebago potatoes sauteed with wagyu fat, garlic and rosemary $12
Another filling side dish but instead very, very impressive. I remember seeing a recipe for Blumenthal's duck-fat roasted potatoes and I have been dying to try out potatoes roasted in animal fats for so long. I tried to give it a go at home but it just did not work out good at all. Really glad I got these. The potatoes were nice and soft on the inside with the most amazing crisp layer on the outside. Generously seasoned with salt and rosemary it was a treat. The garlic flavours didn't come through to me but the cloves were in the bowl and so big, I mistook them for potatoes at some points.
Once again another issue with trying to flag down a wait person to ask them to clear the table as well as trying to get a dessert menu. We were both so full and satisfied at this point that we were thankful we didn't order three steaks. There's always room for dessert though!
The wait for dessert was nearly just as long as the wait for mains which was strange considering by then at 8:30pm the restaurant was mostly cleared out.
Catherine's passionfruit pavlova $23
Cafe Latte $6.50
A strong latte.
To end the night, Rockpool also surprised us with a moist chocolate cupcake adorning a candle on top. Such a nice little addition to our celebration! The chocolate cupcake was really nice and the fresh and cold cream they piped was the real cherry on top.
The waiter also took some cute polaroids for us which was so lovely.
Overall, Rockpool Bar & Grill was amazing experience and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for that perfect restaurant location to celebrate a special event. Or if you have some money to spend on a real good dinner! xx
Rockpool Bar & Grill
66 Hunter Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Open 7 days a week
