Bentley Group banks on fire and meat in a big room

Sydney’s dining scene has had numerous trailblazers over the years and they’ve tended to lead us towards a new way of dining or they create signature experiences that last the test of time.

Think of Neil Perry who’s still going after over 30 years or the restaurants powered by Leon Fink or Justin Hemmes or someone more contemporary such as Josh Niland.

Then there’s Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt who co-own the Bentley Group of restaurants. With Savage as the cutting-edge culinary leader and Hildebrandt the sommelier’s sommelier, the two are the glimmer twins of Sydney’s food scene and have been for nearly two decades.

Unfortunately, like the Rolling Stones they’re a bit of a greatest hits band at the moment.

Now, what the Bentley Group were leaders in was the shared plate experience with Cirrus as the apogee of the fad. They didn’t invent the “every restaurant is a trumped-up tapas bar experience” but they were leaders and my God it has become tired as a concept. No more Kingfish ceviche please.

I say this as we sit outside their latest restaurant Eleven Barrack which is coincidentally situated at 11 Barrack Street in Sydney’s CBD. There’s a thick pea soup fog enveloping us in mid-February which is rather unseasonal. Then again, it might have been the gang of 13–15-year-olds who sprayed us with a fire extinguisher for not giving them a chip. My first thought was at least they’re away from their screens although they were probably making a TikTok video.

Now apart from the attack by pimpled, pubescent lads, the restaurant was a bit of a letdown. Inside it’s a grand room. A heritage listed former bank built in the mid 1800s with the current makeover trying to channel a nineties Hollywood set designer’s idea of a glamourous nightclub. Think of the clubbing scene featuring Sharon Stone and Micheal Douglas in the early 1990s film Basic Instinct.

Yet despite the colour and the tartan carpet it’s still comes across as a bank. Granted a bank from yesteryear – exuding a grandeur our current financial institutions no longer deliver since they turned into bland corporate-coloured boxes filled with Ikea knockoffs.

Theoretically, old banks should make grand dining rooms but they often lack soul and it’s hard to create the cuisine to match the room. As it stands, I don’t reckon the Bentley chaps are at their best in a big cold room. For example, Brasserie 1930 in the Capella Hotel remains one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in years.

Conversely, Monopole sitting at the base of a bland nondescript modern building is pretty good and the now defunct Cirrus at Barangaroo was a favourite.

Even the group’s other (still) young restaurant, King Clarence set on the corner of King and Clarence Streets (there’s a theme happening here), works. In a former life it actually was a bland corporatised bank.

As for the food at Eleven Barrack, the menu comes across as something you’d find on an old cruise liner with its oysters, caviar, rich sauces and steaks from the grill as it harks back to a gilded age which is mildly dispiriting at present but there are a few gems.

An opening of flathead goujons with a tartare sauce took me back to a time of eating fish cocktails on a family beach holiday. Followed up with a tuna crumpet and I was reliving the flavours of childhood summer breakfasts in a fibro holiday house. The smoked pastrami with capers, parsley and horseradish filled a hole without overwhelming.

For the mains, my colleague and I went to steaks from the grill which were both presented beautifully. Mine was the Black Opal wagyu rump cap while my dining partner went for the Kidman bone-in sirloin. You can’t really go wrong with steak done over the coals and they were both solid as were the sides of Barrack seasoned hand cut fries and grilled broccolini with hazelnuts and sheep’s milk feta.

All pretty good with a well-chosen wine from the Bentley vault. On this occasion a lovely mineral rich Bass Phillip Estate Chardonnay followed by a 2022 Jasper Hill Georgia’s Paddock shiraz.

Desserts we passed on as the astringent fire extinguisher fumes gripped the back of our throats.

All up it was good but not great. There’s plenty of promise although the room itself has a recently chequered past when it comes to grand dining. It might just be too grand for a restaurant with its towering ceilings, granite and marble although it’s worth giving the Bentley team time to find their feet.