If you have not already noticed, French brasserie style dining is trending in Sydney, as part of a wider move away from more overcomplicated dishes back to far simpler and gratifying flavour driven food on our plates, and I say Amen to that! Armorica, along with Franca flew the Francophile flag earlier than the more recent devotees, and that is noticeable in both its stylish polish and confident approach. Enter from Crown Street, and the fit out and ambience instantly transports you from the streets of Surry Hills to any moodily lit brasserie on a rue in Paris. The site also has serious culinary bones from its days as MG Garage, with the striking art of David Plunkert captivating the eye from the first moment you take a seat.
Refreshingly, the open kitchen reveals a predominately female brigade under the experienced tutelage of Executive Chef Jose Saulog (ex Tetsuya’s, Glass Brasserie & Bells at Kincare). Glancing at the pass during service, reveals a very well trained and professional operation, with every sauce tasted before application and proper seasoning clearly a major focus. The Front of House operation is equally impressive and knowledgeable, with my table always going to ask a myriad of questions for clarification and fact checking. The well-curated wine list covers every possible matching aspect of the menu, and it should be mentioned the cocktail game is on point.
Speaking of which their twist on an old fashioned starts the beverage side of the night off particularly well. Likewise for food, the nicely composed in house pork and duck terrine served with apricot jam, cornichons, seeded mustard and toasted bread is just delightful. In my opinion, a good terrine will always have relevance on a menu, as it demonstrates not only skill, but is fundamentally timeless and brings a sense of joy to the serious diner. We lush things up with the delicious King Prawns, accompanied by a very decadent and well-judged escargot XO sauce. The cylindrically cut fluffy steamed buns are perfect discs for mop up operations, and overall serves as a lovely counterpoint to the previous dish.
The imposing wood-fired Josper Grill, which largely is the conduit for all the major protein leaving the pass is our next stop, starting with Wollemi duck breast, currants, accompanied by a luscious foie gras sauce. A side of duck fat chat potatoes look too irresistible to pass by, as does the creamed spinach with bullhorn peppers and mascarpone. The grill offers up eight steak options, and our choice of the 250g Jack’s Creek grain-fed Black Angus 3+ is sensationally priced at $39, however if you want to really splash out, there’s a Kiwami Wagyu 9+ Bavette and Portoro grain-fed Black Angus 5+ Tomahawk available. Nonetheless, our more humble flat iron is perfectly medium rare and delivers serious bang for the diners dollar. We ask for the bone marrow butter, béarnaise, mushroom sauce, and mustard – all textbook and delightful.
To finish, it’s impossible to bypass the signature chocolate bar, a thing of beauty, consisting of Valrhona chocolate mousse, and salted caramel, choc chip cookie. Its very rich in comparison to the more rustic tarte du jour, but unreservedly it is chocolate work at its finest. Armorica is self described as, “an unfolding moment outside time; a sanctuary of joie de vivre, an escape from the day-to-day (even if just for a lunch break)”. It’s a fitting description of a well-crafted experience driven by a team of passionate hospitality professionals who aim to please regardless of how you are approaching your visit – whether that be for a date night, special occasion, casual lunch, or a serious food exploration. If you want to Jazz up your week, its live from 9pm on Fridays, so you choose, and that is the beauty of what is on offer here. I’ll hand it over to you to decide which works best for your visit!
By Dane Richards
Armorica
Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm (lunch), Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm
(02) 91452990
490 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
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