This was published 8 years ago
Why singer Emma Pask picks The Devonshire as her go-to spot
The Devonshire has a great degustation menu for less than $100, so where is everybody?
By Daisy Dumas
WHO
Emma Pask, jazz singer from Bondi
Linen tablecloths and an attentive maitre d' add to the sophistication at The Devonshire.Credit: James Alcock
WHERE
The Devonshire, Surry Hills
Singer Emma Pask says she likes going to The Devonshire for special occasions. Credit: Blueprint Studios
WHY
"It's somewhere my husband introduced me to – he's the assistant sommelier at Catalina. He's always looking for new and interesting places. He discovered The Devonshire a couple of years ago, ever since then it's been a staple for nice evenings out. We tend to celebrate a special occasion there. It's really lovely – we go for nights out together, or for family celebrations.
"It's a small place, it's really intimate and relaxed, but you certainly don't lose any of the quality of the amazing foods and the incredible wine list they have. The restaurant manager is a Scottish guy called Craig and over the course of us visiting the restaurant as many times as we have in the last few years, we've become quite good friends. They're all really lovely. It's an intimate relaxed atmosphere with really good food."
WHAT
Every ingredient gets a bit of zhuzh.Credit: James Alcock
"They have an eight-course degustation. We always go for the degustation; we try to introduce it to our friends when we take them there so that we can have it as often as possible. You get to sample loads from the menu that way. Each dish in the degustation comes on a different ceramic plate; they're just gorgeous.
[It has] beautiful salmon dishes. The staff and chef Jeremy Bentley are so lovely and accommodating. I eat fish but not meat. My husband is South American, a full-on red meat eater, and they cater for us, no problem.
The desserts are to die for. Deconstructed cheesecake, it tastes like cheesecake but is all different pieces on the plate: crumble, coconut sorbet, little caramelised pineapple pieces.
Another lovely touch is that you get your bill presented to you in a beautiful old tea cup and saucer.
Our lamb shoulder and rump, slow-cooked Angus rump and mulloway are plates of studied precision and artful cooking.
It's great value, $95 for degustation. It's really priced well for Sydney and the quality is exceptional. We don't tend to match wines, I'm not a big drinker."
ABOUT
"I'm a pretty terrible cook, I'm happy to admit that. I'm one of those people who have lots of fabulous cookbooks at home. I much prefer opening the cookbook and placing an order than making it, unfortunately. Me and my husband are definitely eat-out types. We love Japanese food, particularly Cafe Wa in Bondi Junction, and we're also big fans of Mexican.
I've just released a brand new album, which is really exciting. I guess you could say it was influenced by my husband being from South America – the whole album is Latin American. I'm doing promo for it at the moment. I'm constantly working, performing gigs locally and interstate.
I'm performing with James Morrison on a cruise ship next week. I think it's going to be interesting – I've never worked on a cruise before. I've heard so many different stories, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it'll be like. I'm a member of the Icebergs winter swimming club, we've just finished our winter swim season, on top of Icebergs club. We swim Bondi Bay a couple of times a week and try to avoid as many sharks as possible!"
THE DEVONSHIRE
204 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, 9698 9427, thedevonshire.com.au
Entrees, $25; mains, $37; desserts, $16; degustation, $85pp. $150 for two, plus drinks.
3 OUT OF FIVE STARS
REVIEW
Riddle me this, riddle me that … Does your local haunt have a Good Food hat? I've been away for a while and it's good to be back, not least so that I finally have a chance to properly digest Fairfax's latest Good Food Guide and its cast of stars. I'm pleased to see that this very column's highest scoring restaurant yet – earning a chubby 4.5 out of five – has again been awarded two hats. Well done to all at Sixpenny in Stanmore. Top on my list for an investigative mission is Byron Bay's Fleet, which looks a seafaring, horizon-busting treat.
Formerly gracing that shiny list is Surry Hills' The Devonshire, tucked away and unexpected in its linen-and-polish refinement. As is the way with Sydney's restaurant scene, currents come and go, carrying eateries into and out of the trophy cabinet and back again. Long may resurgences continue.
Its neighbours on Devonshire Street, purveyors of fish and chips and $10 steaks, are central Sydney stalwarts, so this bistro-cum-fine dining spot is in good company. And our chooser this week, singer Emma Pask, hits the nail on the head with her precis of the lovely Craig, whose banter is witty and efficient while doing that maitre d' thing I both enjoy and have lazily come to rely upon: telling me which wines to drink and when. He pads over the dark, carpeted floor (which not so long ago was shiny cream) silently and swiftly with our beers and hot bread rolls with caramel butter.
Chef Jeremy Bentley has a neatly curtailed menu with lofty ambitions. Where I've grown accustomed to seeing meals on menus paired down to elemental – if fashionable – imprecision ("lamb, barley"), the Devonshire does it the old-fashioned way: we're told cherry tomatoes are smoked, cucumber is compressed, serrano is crumbled, brisket comes in croustillant form and ricotta is seasoned. No pine nut, potato or onion is sold without a bit of zhuzh. An amuse bouche is the also the first course of the degustation on the night we visit, a fried ball of comforting salt-fish brandade on a dollop of caper sauce.
Our Hiramasa kingfish tartare with Alaskan crab, compressed cucumber, apple, radish and burnt-onion jam sounds very fancy and arrives looking the part. Its creamy dressing is neatly cut by the apple – as is our pork belly rillettes by its daikon and fennel partners, the porcine mixture heavy on soft-and-crunchy versions of pig.
We go meat-heavy for our mains – all colourful, textured, glossy and translucent. Our lamb shoulder and rump, slow-cooked Angus rump and mulloway are plates of studied precision and artful cooking.
So where are the crowds? The Devonshire stands out from its gastronomic neighbours not only for its gourmanderie and pressed linen – it is quiet, bordering on worryingly so, on a Thursday night. The missing buzz has its upside: being able to talk, listen and be heard above the usual evening din feels almost a rare indulgence. There's a time and a place for a peaceful meal in one of Sydney's busiest corners and I think my parents and grandparents may well agree.
A pre-theatre menu of two courses for $49 is a wise move. And an eight-course degustation menu for under $100? Well, hello. Certainly, it's the fiscally savvy option, with a la carte entrees at mains pegged at $25 and $37 a pop. The bill, by the way, comes in a tea cup with saucer, a nod to Devon and the mother country. Save to say, a playfully on-theme Devonshire tea creme brulee with scone ice-cream and cherry jam makes perfect sense. I'll have mine with a cup of Earl Grey, please.