Arthur Restaurant, Surry Hills

Ten dishes for $70? Surely this is one of the best value dinner treats in Sydney. Treat yo'self for cheap at Arthur, a small and cosy restaurant in Surry Hills. You'll find it an intimate spot for date night but it's relaxed enough, too, for a special catch-up with friends.



Heading up the kitchen is Tristan Rosier whose cooking pedigree (ex-Biota and Est.) is reflected in his seasonal, local-focussed, plant-friendly cooking. The menu includes a detailed note of thanks to a broad list of suppliers, acknowledging the use of produce from Living Earth Organic Market Farm in the Southern Highlands, native ingredients from Outback Pride, Wollemi Honey from Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains, and fruit and vegetables from Rosier's own mum and Nan's garden.



Ten dishes will arrive in pairs, a five-course meal that the restaurant warns will take about two hours. The duration feels like the ideal compromise, long enough to feel memorable without the oftentime drawn-out arduousness of a 15-course degustation.


Arthur's sourdough with cultured butter

We start with housemade sourdough, deliciously crusty on the outside with a mattressy softness.


Raclette gougere with truffle and honey

Our starter counterpart is a plate of raclette gougeres.



These are far tastier than you first expect, the golden brown choux pastry boosted with aromatic truffle, the nutty cheesiness of raclette and a floral hint of honey.


Scallop with globe artichoke and verjuice

The following three courses pair a protein dish with a vegetable-based one. Raw scallops offer a gentle sweetness against pickled globe artichokes and a sunshine yellow splash of verjuice dressing.


Ricotta with broad beans and brussels sprouts

Ricotta with broad beans belies its understated appearance. The milky creaminess of ricotta works terrifically with tender double-podded broad beans, hidden beneath a forest of charred brussels sprouts leaves. We drag our spoons through the ricotta island, scooping up as much vivid green fennel oil as we can. It's one of my favourite dishes of the night.


Kangaroo with bush tomato and peppers

Course three includes a giant raviolo of kangaroo, the silky pasta draped with roasted red bullhorn peppers and bush tomatoes.


Cabbage, fennel and sorrel

On the side is a thick wedge of cabbage, roasted to a blackened caramelised sweetness, the green quotient bolstered with fennel and lemony sorrel butter.


Spatchcock with cipollini and brassicas

Our final savoury course proffers spatchcock, brined and cooked to an impressive succulency. On the side are candied cipollini onions and a tangle of cavolo nero.


Jerusalem artichoke with macadamia

Roasted Jerusalem artichokes are my other highlight of the evening. They're addictively sweet and nutty, smashed and fried so that obtain a blistered crisp at the edges. And then there's the macadamia sauce, velvety in texture and lush in its nutty richness.


Wattleseed, blood orange and strawberry

A wattleseed parfait provides a palate-cleansing segue into dessert. It's a clever dessert, balancing the creaminess of parfait against the refreshment of blood orange with strawberry and the sweet hit of caramelised white chocolate smithereens.


Chocolate, peach and rhubarb

And while we're relieved there's a chocolate dessert too, this one isn't intense or heavy. There's a deftness of touch that tempers a flourless chocolate cake with peaches and rhubarb. Lashings of cocoa dusted cream hit the satisfaction button.

It's a thoughtful and elegant meal although our only quibble is that our table of three consistently receives a single dish to share the entire evening. That would be fine if the dish - normally designed for two, based on our observation of the next table - was increased proportionately, but many looked to have been left as is. It's a small point, but worth noting if you plan to dine with an odd number of people.








Arthur Restaurant
544 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, Sydney
Tel: +61 (0)468 991 088 

Opening hours
Lunch 
Saturday and Sunday 12.30pm (Fridays from 11 Oct)
Dinner 
Wednesday to Sunday 6pm
Wednesday to Saturday 8.30pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts
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Degustation - Restaurant Orana, Adelaide
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Gardener's Lodge vegan cafe, Camperdown, Sydney

You can't even tell it's vegan. Seriously. There's been a lot of hype about the lasagna at vegan cafe Gardeners Lodge. Believe the hype. It's every bit as cheesy and meaty as any Nonna would make. But vegan.



You'll find Gardeners Lodge in the quaint sandstone building that sits on the edge of Victoria Park. You know. The huge park opposite Broadway Shopping Centre. On a sunny day, it's a glorious spot to soak up some Vitamin D and admire the tranquility of Lake Northam.



Otherwise you can take a seat inside the building, a mix of small tables and communal seating with a close-up view of the dessert shelf lined with treats.


Zucchini fritters $16

The menu offers a mix of cafe staples with Italian favourites. You'll find zucchini fritters on the all-day breakfast menu, alongside avocado bruschetta, cheese and (plant-based) ham toasties, and an acai smoothie bowl.

The fritters are generous with zucchini but perhaps not as crisp as expected. There's plenty of health-reviving zing on the plate though, with dairy-free feta, peppery rock leaves, fresh lemon and a good splodge of avocado to smear on sourdough toast.


Lasagne $18

The lunch menu kicks off at 11.30am. Ordering the lasagne is pretty much mandatory. You're score a magnificent slab of oozing lasagne that could almost pass as a meat version. It's satisfyingly savoury (hello umami), amped up with mushrooms, lashings of bechamel sauce and enough dairy-free cheese to make you want to kept digging that fork in for more.

It'll be no surprise to learn that there's some serious pedigree behind the lasagne. The recipe is by Marco Matino, the chef behind Gigi's in Newtown, the pizzeria that switched to an all-vegan menu in 2015 and hasn't looked back. Marco is the brother of Jessica Matino Ndibe, the co-owner of Gardener's Lodge.


Caesar salad $14
with plant-based schnitzel $5

On the salad menu, the most substantial offering would be the Caesar with added plant-based schnitzel, over the mixed salad and the pumpkin salad. We're not quite sure what's in the smoky rashers nor the schnitzel but they're eerily uncanny in similarity of appearance and texture to bacon and chicken. There's a great crunch and toothsomeness to the schnitzel, although we probably could have done with half as many croutons.


Mushroom panini $17

There are sandwiches too. Panini are made using Brickfields ciabatta. The mushroom one is worth trying, if not just for the dairy-free blue cheese playing off against pan-seared oyster mushrooms and the slight bitterness of crisp radicchio leaves.

Not convinced? Try the melanzane grilled eggplant, plant-based schnitzel or tomato and olive bruschetta.








Gardener's Lodge 
Victoria Park
Corner of Parramatta Ros and City Road, Camperdown
Tel: +61 (0)425 334 023

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 8.30am-3pm
Saturday and Sunday 9am-3pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts
Vegan - An Lac Restaurant, Cabramatta (Vietnamese)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Badde Manors, Glebe (Mod Aust)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Chatkazz, Harris Park (Indian)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Manmaru, Dulwich Hill (Japanese)
Vegetarian and Vegan - Two Chaps, Marrickville (Mod Aust)