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Bennelong Restaurant

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

Something special: Check out the new-look Bennelong at the bar.
Something special: Check out the new-look Bennelong at the bar.Brendon Thorne

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before: Bennelong has reopened and you should really check it out. The carpet is very nice and there is food available.

Every food writer in Sydney has given their two cents on Bennelong since Fink Group and Peter Gilmore zapped it back to life in July. I'll spare you more tales of pikelets and lamingtons and malted-grain porridge, and for the next few paragraphs instead gush about how terrific its standalone bar is.

Aaron Gaulke​ is the charming waistcoated gent in charge of the liquor cabinet, four stools and couple of tall tables that comprise the Bennelong Bar. He comes to the (Sydney Opera) House via the Intercontinental Hotel Group and Eau de Vie, and can manage a large-scale bar and mix a damn fine drink at the same time.

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Best bar snack in town? Bennelong's suckling pig sausage rolls.
Best bar snack in town? Bennelong's suckling pig sausage rolls.Brett Stevens

On my first few visits, I was all about Gaulke's Snugglepot and Cuddlepie ($21), a short glass of Buffalo Trace bourbon, walnut liqueur, cherry and quince shrub. A healthy dash of booze gives the drink a proper set of teeth and, combined with the quince shrub, the drink tasted like a prize-fighting, prize-winning jam. A beautiful winter cocktail.

Now we're coming into spring, I'm leaning more towards the Botanical Garden ($18) as a go-to. It's a perfectly balanced, ever-so-slightly dirty martini made using rosemary and olive-infused Aylesbury Duck Vodka, or you could do just as well by ordering a bowl of warm Mount Zero olives ($9) and a straight pour of Aylesbury Duck ($13) instead.

Most vodkas don't excite me, but this little clear and colourless duck is different. A slow-fermented vodka from the Canadian Rockies, it has more structure, spice and grain than I can remember tasting in a vodka for a long time.

Bar manager Aaron Gaulke knows how to mix a fine drink.
Bar manager Aaron Gaulke knows how to mix a fine drink.Supplied
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Bennelong's spirit selection is tight across the board, with a focus on harder-to-find drops (g'day Monkey 47 and Fortaleza Reposado) and Australian distillers. Rosebery's Archie Rose gets a run on the gin list, for example, alongside Four Pillars, West Winds and newcomer Poor Toms. If you want that G with a T, local company P.S. (Soda) supplies homemade bush tonics with flavours such as grapefruit and gentian.

Sommelier Russ Mills has put together a smart by-the-glass wine selection, and the wild strawberry explosion of Gosset Grand Rose Brut champagne ($29) is a beaut post-theatre pairing with Gilmore's signature pavlova ($28), which looks like the Opera House impersonating a stegosaurus (the dessert and Cured and Cultured menus are both available at the bar – double win).

The Fink Group and Opera House Trust say they want Bennelong to be accessible to for everyone in Australia. It is, after all, owned by all 24 million of us. When a three-course dinner costs $125 before booze, and most plates from the Cured and Cultured section are just shy of $30, we're hardly talking bowling club prices, though.

The Snugglepot and Cuddlepie cocktail.
The Snugglepot and Cuddlepie cocktail.Brendon Thorne

If you are trying to save a bit of dosh and still want to check out the new-look Bennelong, the bar is the best place to do it. It operates on a walk-in basis, and a Coopers Pale Ale and half a dozen oysters (with delicious lemon pepper granita) will set you back $40 (or $10, if you skip the oysters).

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A similar beer and bivalve combination from Opera Bar downstairs costs about $35. I will happily pay the difference to sit inside one of the world's greatest dining rooms instead of outside with seagulls and selfie-sticks at any hour of any day, but particularly about sunset and particularly on a Friday.

You should really check it out.

THE TAKE-AWAY

Go for ... champagne and oysters in the Opera House, of course.
Stay for ... dessert.
Drink ... the Botanical Garden.
And ...
Suckling-pig sausage rolls with black garlic have become available at the bar. Juicy, minced pork inside the puffiest of puff pastry, topped with buttons of rich black garlic. A roll might take 20 minutes to arrive at the table (they're baked to order, not plucked from pie warmer)  but that wait is totally worth it. Shame it comes sliced into six fun-sized bites, though. I was really looking forward to woofing the whole thing down with a Bennelong lamington and having the most lavish smoko ever.

*You may have also heard that Gilmore and chef-de-cuisine Rob Cockerill are rocking The Most Expensive Toastie Ever at $22. Sandwiched between two slices of salty, housemade brioche is Manjimup truffle and five Australian cheeses including Paesanella ricotta (Marrickville represent). The brioche is delicious but too crumbly for comfort (the toastie actually requires little to no chewing and the experience of eating it was an odd one). Full marks to the strong and bitey cheese mix, however. Remove the truffle you've still got a punchy bar-snack in your hands.


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Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

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