25 Aug Bentley Restaurant and Bar – Review
Located in cosmopolitan Surry Hills, Bentley’s offers innovative “molecular-gastronomy” style dishes on their menu. We dined there with our student intern, Andres Castello, who wrote this review.
The restaurant interior is simple, modern, and elegant. Brent Savage and sommelier Nick Hildebrandt make a great team; the food and the wine pair beautifully together.To begin we ordered the Kingfish ceviche, the duck liver foie gras parfait, and the pork belly.
The kingfish ceviche was disappointing. It was very difficult to find any fish amongst all the ribbons of pickled daikon and the yuzu mayonnaise. The acidity of the pickled daikon cleverly mimicked that of a traditional ceviche, but it surprisingly had very small and few pieces of the kingfish.
The duck liver foie gras parfait came served as a log served over a bed of puffed rice and topped with pickled raisins. It was puzzling as to how they build such a precise log!
Next, we shared the pork belly with wattle, garlic milk and rhubarb.
The pork belly was tender and topped with fried brocollini florets. It was served with black fungi, wattle, a sheet of gelatinised garlic milk and rhubarb. The rhubarb was a great contrast to the fattiness of the pork belly, great combination.
As for our entrees: we ordered the duck breast, poached kingfish, and the fillet of Black Angus beef.
The slow roast duck breast was served with cuttlefish and mushroom ‘soil’. The duck was perfectly cooked and the flavours and ingredients on the dish were great. The mushroom ‘soil’, as our waiter called it, was incredible. It was very earthy, a distinct earthiness from your typical mushrooms, and had a great umami flavour that brought together the cuttlefish and duck beautifully.
The poached kingfish was served was served with a fennel purée, white fungi, and leeks. There was also some parsley oil and lemon in the sauce.
The fillet of Black Angus beef was incredibly tender. The dish was served with carrots, and adzuki bean pure and white sweet potato cake. We also ordered a side of cauliflower with mustard, which was delicious, simple but definitely one of the highlights of our meal.
For dessert we tried the frozen goat cheese mousse with violet, buckwheat praline & passionfruit ice cream. There was a lot happening on the plate, but we felt that it was lacking. There was not anything that truly stood out: on its own, or as a whole. We also shared the triple crème cheese, which was delicious.
Chef: Brent Savage
320 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Phone: (02) 9332 2344
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