This was published 7 years ago
Rake's Russell Dykstra finds sweet spot between bees and Pitt St Diner
By Daisy Dumas
Why I love this place
Who
Russell Dykstra, Rake actor; from the NSW Central Coast
Pitt St Diner has a down-to-earth appeal and an enticingly changeable menu. Credit: Christopher Pearce
Where
Pitt St Diner in Redfern
Russell Dykstra, pictured left with Richard Roxburgh in Rake, says he likes restaurants that aren't too fancy.Credit: ABC
Why
"The food is very good, it's very reasonably priced. It's French, which makes it a little bit fancy. One of the misconceptions with Australians is that French food is smothered in cream and is rich and very heavy, but here it's very fresh. It's a little local bistro restaurant, it's very friendly, people drop in, it's got a real kind of local friendly vibe to it, far from that stuffy, formal thing. You get full restaurant service, it's basically pub food prices but you get an awful lot of bang for your buck. It's got a big and exciting wine list.
"It's a far cry from what a lot of people expect from French dining. They have a tricky sell, changing a lot of people's preconceived notions.
"I don't like restaurants that are too fancy for words, where you feel you can't relax. You can take friends and have a good night out and you're not going to die when you get the bill."
The gnocchi with prawns, mushrooms, asparagus, truffle oil and parmesan at Pitt St Diner.Credit: Christopher Pearce
What
"I'm going to start at the end, because I love the cheese plate. It's really sensational.
"They have great seafood. They're from the south of France, they just have the knack, it's in their genetics. They do a whole fish – who doesn't love a whole fish on the table? It's impressive. I'm often attracted to the seafood because it's always great.
"The steak frites are very popular. The chocolate fondant is delicious but not overly sweet; it's rich but very yummy."
About
"What I cook at home is eclectic, let's put it that way, I just had leftover dahl for lunch – you can't go wrong with curries, they are better the next day. I do a lot of slow cooking come this time of year, when it's getting colder. I love throwing in chunks of meat and letting them cook away. I'll generally do a big batch and have friends over, then make pies.
"Once upon a time I used to do the big dinner party but now it's more like the way I like to eat out. I like to get out of the kitchen and spend time with everyone. I think I've got a pretty good track record, I do have return business – or maybe I have friends who can't be bothered cooking!
"We're halfway through season four of Rake. Given its popularity, I'd be surprised if it didn't have a return season, but I don't know.
"I'm a beekeeper. It's always been something that interests me a great deal. People are always blown away by the taste and quality of the honey. I live in the Central Coast but there are an awful lot of beekeepers in the city. So much of our honey in supermarkets come from bees that are fed sugar, rather than being allowed out to forage.
"One of the things that astounded me is that when I brought my bees home, my garden went ballistic, I don't think people realise how much bees influence your garden.
"I love nature. Soon I'm heading off to Binnaburra, it's heavenly."
Pitt St Diner
96 Pitt Street, Redfern
0478 705 704, pittstdiner.com.au
Entrees $9; mains $25-$31; desserts $14-$18. $100 for two, plus drinks.
★★★
REVIEW
Bees. Let's start with bees. Any man who has a thing for bees is right by me, and our chief restaurant chooser this week, Mr Russell Dykstra of Rake fame, knows a thing or two about honey and the miraculous lives behind it. I used to marvel at the bee hives I read about on the roofs of major London museums and Manhattan hotels, turning everything I considered about beekeeping's green pastures on its head: the city can and should be home to hives, and the more, the better.
Sydney's at it, too – Russell told me about a honey he'd tried at Taylor Square markets that was grown (reared? brewed? made, I think) in Darlinghurst, and a few years back I was given a jar of Kings Cross honey from the roof of the amazing Wayside Chapel. But what is really exciting – and something I'm sure will grow bigger – is native Australian honey from our own bees. Where can I find it, does anyone look after native bees that make it in Sydney, I wonder? Our city can be, has to be, so much more than big business, homes and cars. It's a nest to all sorts of wonderful life.
And now for Pitt St Diner: local, a touch special and also down-to-earth and so meekly priced that I double check, no, triple check the menu when I sit down on a very inclement night.
There are few local, warm places (and possibly none I can think of without a quick bit of research) that serve breakfast by day and offer a 400-gram steak and chips for $30 by night. And none, besides this, that are all of the above and elegantly appointed and chandelier-festooned.
But one of the perkiest things about Pitt St Diner – which has gone out on a limb in Redfern, giving home-cooked French food and convivial informality an inner city and neighbourly spin – is its mercurial menu, which is fully thrown out and reborn every fortnight, down to the desserts, sides and cheeses.
(There's also plenty of perk in the way-long winelist for which I definitely need navigational help. I am told the Tempranillo, $48, is a goer, but can't verify this as I am designated driver on this dark and stormy night.)
There'll always be a steak, but it'll have a different sauce, say, and the rest is down to what's in season, in the markets and in the chef's gaze. So, I can tell you about things I and my hungry band eat on our visit, but I sadly can't verbally dig into this week's choreography of coquilles St Jacques, gnocchi with prawns or oxtail. Which is a shame.
Couples and small groups come into the warmth with a knowing shrug against the weather and the atmosphere they'd meet. Sydney's having a moment francaise, it must be said, as French restaurants make headlines, but Pitt St Diner is neither showy nor PR-blitzed, and I suspect locals prefer it that way.
Our lamb, pumpkin risotto and poached salmon are homey, neither too slick nor the kind of thing I'd cook everyday. Our dessert – chocolate fondant with a big, deeply satiny ball of hazelnut ice-cream, bien sur – is without fault. But the winner for me is a little glass jar of roquefort brulee, a rich and tartly blue custard given a calling card of burnt sugar and paired with sharp green apple and salad leaves, as a starter. It's addictive. And comes in at under $10.
It's all done with care and the pride of a team that has a bit at stake on the Paris end (for the night at least) of Pitt Street.