Benjamin B.
Yelp
You know how Sydney's on this dirty great mission to be more like Melbourne, what with the small bar revolution, laneway culture, yadda yadda? Well here are two dudes making that shit happen right at the Crown St coalface. Paul Cooper lives & breathes a nose-to-tail philosophy that results in a slew of inventive deliciousness, and Erez.... well, it's just impossible not to like the guy. He's a rogueish raconteur with a gilded tongue and knack for a story. These chaps have moved their young families up from Melbourne and bring their south-of-the-border culinary sensibilities with them, and it's all class. Disclosure: I came here on a famil, and tried the following:
Roast Melanda Park pork, Hawkesbury River squid, pearl barley, sweet potato, peas & apple sauce ($33). The colours alone were epic, a synesthesic rainbow.
Herb crusted Milly Hill lamb rump, onion tarte fine, fetta, eggplant & red pepper sauce ($31). I'm a lamb bandit from way back and this was a peach, served with a fine skirt of succulent fat that melted like butter. And a surprise winner - the fetta/eggplant creations, little packages of gold.
If you're a red fan, don't go past the Tibooburra Solitude Pinot Noir 2008 from the Yarra. It's $16.5 a glass, but, guh! The colour of a rusty penny and damnably good.
The beef and bone marrow dumplings were also good. Rich, filling, best served with the sauce ladled over the top.
Special mention goes to their signature quail buns: think a classic steamed pork bun with delectable chunks of ginger-spiced quail. Cue hyperbolic Pavlov's dog-style drooling. Will be back for these alone.