The Cookhouse Randwick

Rating: 11/20

'Please order and pay at the counter'' used to be the sign of a forgettable meal in a pub, club or RSL. Now it can mean a memorable meal just about anywhere, even in a flash joint.

Take a look at Rosebery's Kitchen by Mike, Bread & Circus, and Cipro Pizza al Taglio, or the new Boathouse on Balmoral beach, where we're talking $32 chargrilled tuna steaks and $39 buckets of tiger prawns. Being given a number and sent off to find your own table is no longer a reflection on the quality of the kitchen. It's not ideal, but we'd better get used to it. As wages and overheads increase, staff numbers continue to be reduced, and the do-it-yourself diner is part of the solution.

So I'm fine with walking into The Cookhouse and seeing the big blackboard menu and the table numbers ready to go. The whole place feels closer to a pub than a restaurant, with its high and low tables, lounges and big bar.

Previous owner Matthew Kemp had begun this process himself, turning his Restaurant Balzac into the Montpellier Public House. He did a great job of the food, I thought, but the numbers just didn't add up.

New owners Rod Godfrey (formerly of Oscillate Wildly) and Michael Carter have in effect taken the concept down another level, reducing staff to those behind bars, and in kitchens, with ''runners'' who deliver food instead of waiters. The same blackboard menu applies throughout the two floors, listing fish and chips, beef and bacon burgers and house-made gnocchi.

Upstairs is a little stark, relying on the warm golden glow of the heritage building's thick sandstone walls for atmosphere. There's a smell in the air that can only be ascribed to deep-frying, and the awkwardly placed tables are bare of all but four diagonally placed coasters. Put an order in, and you get a happily kitsch, bright-red plastic hold-all bearing cutlery, salt, pepper and even toothpicks.

The food itself is unconvincing. Sending out two orders of ''snacks'' for two people on a single wooden board might tick all the trendy boxes, but it's not a good look. Triangles of black pudding topped with small scallops ($7) ooze oil into the sheet of brown paper, while four slices of cured ocean trout with a pool of horseradish cream ($7) come without toast or bread. I know, what do you want for $7? But this sort of economics is called the law of diminishing returns. An age passes without a sign of any main courses, while other tables seem to be fed and watered.

Eventually I inquire, to be told our order is third in line. Even my steak has to take a number and join a queue.

Almost every opportunity to turn this food into something interesting has been overlooked. You can get great chips these days in Sydney - deeply golden, smartly salted or seasoned and tasting of potato. The chips beneath my Angus 300-gram sirloin ($28) are none of those things. Equally, this town has sensational salads that make you want to eat every last leaf. Not so here. With no hit of vinegar, there's no balance, no intrigue. The steak itself is a decent bit of grass-fed meat, although instead of coming medium rare as requested, it's more of a medium or beyond. A daily fish special of crisp-skinned trumpeter ($28) is more of the same: perfectly edible, if overcooked. These flaws are fixable, and could well be addressed as The Cookhouse gets over its newness (it opened on April 17) and settles in to its own space.

There are plenty of beers, a couple of ciders, and a good-enough wine list of labels chosen for food-friendliness and value. Many are available by the glass, carafe and bottle, including a peachy 2012 Summerhouse Chardonnay ($9/$22/$36).

Dessert is a surprise. A slab of chocolate and macadamia brownie with vanilla ice-cream ($12) is warm and deeply chocolatey, with a crack to the crust that keeps you going back for more. At the final turn, some cooking that shows single-mindedness, timing and balance.

While the pay-and-take-a-number system makes economic sense, it makes me appreciate all the more those who juggle costs so they can still deliver fine food with engaged staff who greet you upon entering and farewell you upon leaving.

Increasingly, the hospitality industry is turning dining into a numbers game.

The low-down

Best bit The beautiful historic building.

Worst bit The lack of any real buzz.

Go-to dish Dark chocolate, macadamia nut brownie, $12

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.