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The sloth-speed expansion of Rick Stein’s Aussie empire has been painful for Sydneysiders.
His first outpost, back in 2009, missed Sydney’s CBD by about 240km, appearing in the comparatively undeserving beach town of Mollymook.
We then had to wait nine years for the sequel, which, in a cruel twist, skirted the city by a similar margin in the opposite direction, popping up in the equally unassuming Soldiers Point.
But now, a whole 17 years after Britain’s most famous seafood chef took his business Down Under, Sydney finally has its reward.
And it comes with something the other two restaurants no longer offer: Rick’s world-renowned fish and chips. Deep-fried in dripping. More on that later.
The vibe
The restaurant fairly relentlessly ticks the boxes of what you’d expect for a high-end fish diner in the eastern suburbs.
The walls and tables and waiters’ uniforms are white. The staff are tirelessly attentive. The decor includes a spotless ice bar, banks of fake plant life and a collection of massive ocean-related artworks.
Located on the ground floor of the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach, the 224-seat venue encompasses a sprawling indoor dining room and a smaller outdoor zone which offers flashes of the nearby water.
It’s familiar territory for the TV chef and Cornwall’s famed restaurateur – his other two Aussie venues have operated out of Bannisters, a boutique hotel chain owned by investment group Salter Brothers, which also owns the revamped InterContinental at Coogee.
The food
Rick has entrusted ex-Hilton Sydney and W Taipei chef Colin Chun with cooking duties. The menu, as always, is almost exclusively fish, plucked from the stalls of Sydney Fish Market every morning.
Bread rolls are sent out first, one per person, with a sharing disc of seaweed butter that is slightly too small to fully taste its flavour.
If you’re left gasping for a salt hit, go for the spanner crab soufflé ($35) for your starter. Twice-baked and soaked in thermidor sauce, this wobbling cube of molten cheese is audaciously rich with pockets of sweet crab threaded through the bake.
For an even more indulgent kick off, you can split a hot shellfish platter ($68/$136), including blue swimmer crab, prawns, mussels, oysters, scallops, clams and pipis, doused in parsley, chilli, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice.
This lavish sprawl is a highlight reel from the ice bar, a briny, garlicky and gloriously messy celebration of shellfish that trades finesse for abundance
Two main dishes appear to dominate the tabletops here. Unsurprisingly, self-titled ‘Rick’s fish and chips’ ($45) come flying over the pass in their dozens, the hapuka’s bronze crusts shiny with beef dripping. British-style servings of chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce accompany two hefty logs of fish, their batter audibly crisp, giving way to pearly, steaming flesh beneath.
The other fan-favourite is the roasted blue eye trevalla ($55), which subtly reveals itself as the real hero dish. A modest fillet wears a flat crown of hollandaise, the sauce rich but not overwhelming, allowing the fish’s clean, buttery flavour to take centre stage.
Elsewhere, the Singapore blue swimmer crab ($63) comes as the usual partly disassembled crustacean with a toolbox of medical instruments and hand towels. Stir-fried with garlic, ginger, chilli and coriander, it’s punchy and aromatic, the sweet meat soaking up the heat and spice, rewarding the patient picker.
For afters, the humble steamed honey sponge ($22) is the pick of the bunch. A light pudding with salted caramel sauce and a clump of double cream, like with the rest of the menu, shows that simplicity can cut through.
The black forest trifle ($25) is less easy on a full stomach, pounding together layers of liqueur-soaked Madeira cake, cherries, custard and whipped cream.
The drinks
The drinks list is a sophisticated arrangement of beers and wine – including a bottle of Hunter Valley-sourced Brokenwood ‘Rick Stein’ semillon blend for $85. Signature cocktails include some sideways swings, such as a Manhattan with a wattle vermouth and an Old Fashioned with date and toffee sauce.
Time Out tip
I reckon the ‘Oysters Charentaise’ special is worth a good go. Available at the ice bar, the dish comes as four freshly shucked oysters with hot spicy sausages. The restaurant recommends you eat an oyster, take a bite of the sausage, then have a ‘good gulp’ of a cold white wine. Sounds mighty fine.
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