The Bellevue

It's a corner pub. It's in Paddington. It's been all gussied-up. There's a very talented bloke in the kitchen, and there are piggy bits on the menu. No, it's not the Four In Hand; do keep up.

It's the new kid in the 'hood that has been around since 1880: a re-booted Bellevue (formerly The Bellevue Hotel), with which new owners Steven Speed and Peter Walker seemingly aim to give the Four in Hand a run for its money.

Local design team Humphrey & Edwards has left the 135-year-young pub feeling smarter, smoother and savvier. The add-on rear dining room is now an integral part of the building and a nice place to be; its ceiling raised and split by a skylight; its dark colours soothing. Big circular booths and an oyster and caviar bar line the path from bar to dining room; and a wide-open kitchen throws light and energy onto a mix of high tables and stools and chunky wooden dining tables and banquette seating.

Food from The Bellevue has been somewhat incoherent over recent years, so it's good to see executive chef James Metcalfe, who cooked at London's The Square and at Becasse, Etch and The Bourbon, on the pass. Metcalfe is as solid as they come. You can see his hand (metaphorically) in the taleggio and jamon croquettes and bread sauce risotto with sage, bacon and crisp chicken skin. He jazzes up Pacific oysters with warm bacon and apple dressing ($4.50 each), and smashes wasabi peas for crunch over a light, fresh, lady-like composition of picked Queensland spanner crab with shaved celery, apple, and wasabi emulsion.

A first course of caramelised pig's head is like pork brulee; the rich, gelatinous meats wrestled into a round and toffee'd on top, lying on house-cured coppa​, with a blood-red beetroot puree and caramelised granny smiths. Punch, punch, left hook, jab - it's a knock-out.

Mains are big on flavour and high on style; a translucent fillet of slow-cooked blue eye getting the BLT treatment with wilted baby gem lettuce, bacon puree and a tomato beurre blanc. Two soft curls of pork scratchings appear lost, but large fleshy clams add seaworthiness.

Too much pork never being enough, I head back into the trough with an elegant interpretation of roasted pork jowl that is pure pork porn. It has it all – parsnip puree; Tuscan kale; mashed potato; a rich, glossy, vinegar-infused jus; crisp crackling; and the sweet, melting, melting, melting meat.

Loving my grenache at the moment, I go for an intense, complex 2013 Yangarra  Estate Old Vine Grenache from McLaren Vale ($63) from the contemporary, 70-plus wine list.

Dessert is a dreamy baby loaf of bread-and-butter pudding, sandwiched with raisin puree, soaked in lemon custard, then rolled in hot caramel for crunch, served with burnt butter ice-cream: crazy-good.

The menu format is awkward and may need to change, with its fixed one, two or three course prices amid a welter of 23 add-on options: from oysters (from $4) and Yasa caviar (from $95) to snacks (from $3), sides (from $6) and cheeses ($9). Noise is your usual Paddo pub trivia quiz level, even in the dining room, and service under cheery restaurant manager Robbie Faloona​ is well-drilled, if self-conscious.

So far, it's not sure if it's a pub or a restaurant. But given that this sort of hard-working food normally comes with a higher price tag and less fun; here's to having one just like it on every corner.

THE LOW-DOWN
Best bit: Anything from a pig.
Worst bit: Not having a spare $95 for the Yasa caviar.
Go to dish: Roasted pork jowl, parsnip, kale and malt vinegar jus ($35).

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide. This rating is based on the Good Food Guide scoring system.