The Butcher's Apprentice opens in Wahroonga

Wahroonga hasn't yet earned its own map at the back of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, but the suburb is the quiet achiever of the upper north shore food scene.

Next week the doors finally open at The Butcher's Apprentice, the spin-off to The Butcher's Block, the two-year-old cafe next door.

You won't find any sawdust on the floor, but designer Ed Kenny says one of the cleavers he used as the handles for the tap beer, was put to use by the owner of the butcher shop which formerly occupied the site.

He used it to chase a thief from the jewellery shop across the road.

"He didn't catch him, luckily," Kenny adds.

Chef Brad Wilson will oversee an evening menu at The Butcher's Apprentice that has Good Food licking its chops.

Tangerine and sage lamb cutlets by the kilo, sticky short rib with corn cob, fried corn and popcorn, and a Black Angus rib eye.

Even butchers don't live on meat alone, though, so tea smoked salmon belly has edged its way onto the opening menu.