It’s 10pm on a Thursday night, and Luke Mangan – the acclaimed celebrity chef and restaurateur – is pouring Champagne over my dessert. I look around to check that I haven’t somehow found myself on the set of an Australian remake of The Great Gatsby, but the setting (an intimate dining room just off the marble-trimmed foyer of Kimpton Margot Sydney hotel) only compounds the illusion. Taking the lead from my dining companions, who are tucking into their Champagne-soaked chocolate tarts with gusto, I take another sip of Taittinger and follow suit.
The event is the first of a series of intimate dinners that Mangan is running in partnership with the Champagne brand, and at $395 a head, it’s not one for the budget-conscious. But if you’re in the market for a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience to bring some sparkle to your autumn evening, this is it. And it should be noted that these kinds of ambitious experiences are something that Mangan manages to pull off consistently, while simultaneously championing accessibility in the industry.
Currently overseeing the operations at six kitchens across the city (Glass Brasserie, Luc-San, Luke’s Bistro & Bar Sydney Airport, one particularly surreal space within the Harbour Bridge and the Kimpton Margot’s Harper Rooftop Bar and Luke’s Kitchen) he’s a man of mammoth talent, scope and ambition, and he carries it with warmth and a jovial, welcoming sense of humour. He’s the kind of person you want to spend an evening with eating pasta at a busy dinner table, but on this occasion, he’s on the pans, and the pasta in question is a pillow of ravioli filled with creamy rock lobster, served atop a golden halo of creamed corn.
Throughout the four-course meal, Luke appears briefly between courses to crown rare, roasted venison with a rich venison sauce, and claim a glass or two of Taittinger. The Champagne is a throughline for the whole evening; we start with an alfresco glass at the rooftop bar, before heading downstairs to the dining room that’s groaning with bottles. Each course is masterfully paired with a different vintage, and Luke explains that the venison itself had been marinated in Taittinger for an hour before roasting.
While the food is exceptional (tuna carpaccio is served with gems of caviar, and the gooey chocolate tart is decorated with freshly-shaved truffle), it’s the atmosphere that sets this dining experience apart. The staff (including the lovely Abie, whose smile and gentle nature will live forever rent free in my mind) seem genuinely happy to be bringing such a special dinner to life, and it would be an almighty feat to leave the warmly-lit 12-person table without making a friend.
Raid The Cellar will be taking place at Cellar By Luke within the timelessly magnificent Kimpton Margot throughout the year, with events confirmed for Friday, May 3, Friday, August 23, and Friday, October 25. Learn more and book, here.
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