Sydney restaurants bring out the theatre with return of tableside service

The theatre of traditional tableside service, otherwise known as gueridon, is returning to Sydney restaurants with dessert trolleys, French duck presses and white-gloved waiters.

It's the next step in "conspicuous consumption", a food trend which emerged after COVID lockdown was lifted and Instagram posts of caviar bumps and gold-encrusted steaks coaxed diners off their couches.

Tableside service, however, is all about adding value to the dining experience.

"Dining out needs to be about more than feeding people's hunger," explains James Bradley, director of hospitality group Liquid & Larder.

At Bradley's New York-style steakhouse The Gidley white-gloved waiters "make a show and dance" of their $24 double beef burger, particularly when ordered with optional accoutrements.

"It's a really decadent way of selling a humble burger," Bradley says.

"If ordered with egg we slice the yolk and dress the burger tableside, then portion it up to serve two or three people.

Gueridon service has its origins in service à la Russe, first practised in the Russian Imperial court when serving proteins. In the present day, it refers to the practice of cooking, finishing or presenting a dish to diners, usually from a service trolley.

At recently opened CBD venue The Charles Grand Brasserie and Bar, staff are trained to serve caviar, prepare tartare and carve wagyu rump at the table. A dessert trolley is regularly wheeled around the dining room, tempting guests with an assortment of cakes and sweets.

"We're bringing theatre back to the table," says culinary director Sebastien Lutaud.

But a tableside duck press, or canard à la presse, may be a step too far for The Grand Charles crowd. The traditional French dish, made popular by the Tour d'Argent restaurant in Paris, uses a bespoke piece of 18th century machinery to extract juice and marrow from duck carcasses.

The extraction is used to create a thick, rich sauce served alongside roasted duck breast and confit legs.

Late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain described the duck press as "the most mediaeval of all kitchen tools".

"We talked about doing it in front of people but we're not sure Australian culture is ready for that," says Lutaud.

"You're pretty much crushing duck bones."

The Charles Grand's two large, golden duck presses will be restricted for use in the open kitchen, where they will be used to create the sauce for the $170 dry aged Maremma duck.

"It has a real wow factor," Lutaud says.

Adventurous diners can head to Paddington bistro Porcine to get Sydney's only tableside view.

"This is something so iconic of old French restaurants and it isn't really done in Australia," says co-owner and chef Nik Hill.

"It took a lot of work and quite a few ducks to figure out how to do it."

Five places to experience tableside service in Sydney

Porcine

You'll have to book ahead to secure a tableside serving of canard à la presse at Paddington restaurant Porcine, where there's just one duck available per service. For $200 the table will receive roast duck breast, carved and finished tableside by crushing bones in the press. It's served alongside a duck leg casserole, duck neck sausage and garden salad. It serves between two and six people.

268 Oxford Street, Paddington; porcine.com.au

The Charles Grand Brasserie

Tableside service is incorporated into a number of dishes at The Charles Grand, from the Black Opal Wagyu rump cap ($87) to the steak and Cantabrian anchovy tartare ($34), but culinary director Sebastien Lutaud says there's more to come. As the staff learn "the lost trade" of gueridon, Lutaud hopes to eventually incorporate tableside cooking. In the meantime, the beautiful dessert trolley, with Russian honey cakes and elaborate fruit tarts, has become an attraction in its own right.

66 King Street, Sydney; thecharles.sydney

Mimi's

For the ultimate in luxury it's hard to go past Merivale venue Mimi's, where the caviar service trolley offers a bump of roe with a shot of frozen vodka for $44 per person. The dessert menu, however, is where the tableside service really shines. Flower-shaped mandarin and yuzu sorbet bombe alaska ($29) is flambeed to great effect, while the white strawberries are tossed in pink champagne before being served with elderflower sabayon.

Coogee Pavilion, middle level, 130A Beach Street, Coogee; merivale.com

a'Mare

At Crown restaurant a'Mare, Italian dishes such as pesto pasta ($42) and burrata caprese ($29) are "designed around how we can finish it tableside", says owner Alessandro Pavoni. "It's about bringing back the art and authenticity of service to create a completely memorable, sensory and interactive dining experience." For the pesto, servers use pestles to pound macadamias, pine nuts, garlic, basil, parmesan and olive oil in a 30kg white Carrara marble mortar. The gelato trolley is also a favourite, with a selection of sauces and toppings to choose from.

1 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo; crownsydney.com.au

The Gidley

Gueridon service is both functional and theatrical at The Gidley, where white-gloved waiters are trained to serve fancy double beef burgers (from $24) with flourish. The most challenging tableside dish, however, is the whole flounder served with butter, lemon and capers ($MP). "Filleting a whole fish at the table is quite difficult," says co-owner James Bradley. "If you're going to do it, you need to execute it correctly every single time or you lose that element of luxury and theatricality."

Basement 161 King Street, Sydney; thegidley.com.au