Restaurants - can we be forgiven for wanting the unexpected

We love a great restaurant.  But more than service and ambiance, the food is the crowning glory for an evening that is either unforgettable or perhaps, just enough.  

Take our weekend experience. We booked into the Hilton in Sydney to try their new menu from newly installed chef Natalie, who had taken over from the enduring Luke Mangan late last year in 2024. The venue is stunning, glass laden, and hence the name Glass Brasserie which has stood the test of time. As far as entrances go, the restaurant’s soaring ceilings give this beautiful space a sense of arrival. 

But was it inventive? Did the flavours sing to us, and were we stilled into silence by the layers of ingredients that we’d not encountered before.  No. But it was delicious, I had Yamba Prawns for entree, and a whole fish for mains that was perfectly balanced and enough buttery goodness to make me swoon. My dining partner had steak.  But did it make me want to go back in a hurry? Are we too spoilt by the intense competition that is the Sydney Restaurant sector? 

The answer to that is no again, because every day restaurants that simply serve original, flavoursome food, are just as sought after. Perhaps it’s more that the Glass Restaurant is part of the Hilton hotel, so many of the patrons were tourists. Tourists booking into five star hotels don’t generally compromise on their dinner menu, so why did we think that the food and service was good, but not worth coming back for? 

Inventive doesn’t mean expensive. It means flourishing use of local ingredients and combination of flavours and spices that we don’t eat every day.  When I think of the restaurants that really reach that zenith, and I say this only from someone who is passionate about food, I immediately think of Jonah’s at Palm Beach, Sixpenny, The Barracks, Shell House. As well as Bennelong and Quay. And Tilda, although I don’t like their tipping added on the bill.