Four years ago, something remarkable happened in Las Vegas. The gaudy city spent a decade transforming itself from the last roll of the dice into one of America’s culinary epicentres. As flash restaurants in luxury hotels became de rigueur, some of the biggest names in French and American dining established oases in the desert. The punters responded accordingly. By 2004, visitors were spending more on entertainment, dining and shopping, than gambling.
Now it looks like Melbourne’s Crown Casino has embarked on a similar metamorphosis. The seafood buffet on the main gaming floor remains, but now they’ve put their money on luring a slew of Sydney’s finest restaurateurs to add some lustre to Crown. Neil Perry led the way with Rockpool Bar & Grill almost two years ago and, in 2008, he was joined by Guillaume Brahimi of Guillaume at Bennelong and Maurice Terzini and Robert Marchetti of Icebergs Dining Room and Bar. Add Nobu, the upmarket international chain, to the mix and it’s a pretty safe bet you’ll eat well.
The change has shifted the gambling den’s momentum. Even Melbourne’s conscientiously objecting locals are heading in for Perry’s dry-aged steaks and the duck confit at Bistro Guillaume, breaking their 14-year boycott of Crown. If you have an allergy to casinos, the good news is you can stay at Crown Towers and take the lift down to eat without ever having to pass a pokie.
We did just that, eating at seven of the best. While the wine prices seem designed to claw back a high roller’s winnings, the food is mostly reasonable given a clear intention to aim for quality rather than whittling standards down to a price. And with every restaurant open for lunch and dinner daily, Crown is no longer a culinary desert.
Don’t let the name fool you into thinking this elegant French bistro is a bargain. Fish and chips for $45 and a sassy international wine list confirm otherwise. Simply rest assured you’ll eat superb food from Guillaume Brahimi, one of Australia’s finest chefs, in a setting with the sweet smell of excellence. The marble and timber room is gloriously beautiful and feminine, the flouncing lampshades looking like the petticoats of dancers at Les Folies Bergère. The love is in the polished small details: padded bistro chairs, crisp white linen-covered tables, Villeroy and Boch crockery, Laguiole knives. With the sharp and smooth Craig Hemmings as maitre d’, it’s no wonder it won Best New Restaurant in the The Age Good Food Guide 2009.
The rugby-loving Sydneysider, trained under “chef of the century” Joël Robuchon, has lifted the staples of French dining several notches. While the menu seems deceptively simple, it’s remarkably opulent. The bistro intent appears in a lush terrine du jour, snails with beurre persille (parsley butter) and fine steak frites with béarnaise. The assiette of crudites disappointed, the celeriac remoulade lacked oomph and the avocado was unforgivably unripe, but does anyone really go out to eat vegetables? Well yes, if it’s Brussels sprouts with smoky speck in a glorious mustard sauce to accompany duck confit. The plat du jour is reason alone to return daily. Memories of Thursday’s roast Flinders Island lamb, with its taste of the sea and iodine, still gives me shivers of pleasure.
So why would anyone pay $45 for fish and chips? Wait until you see the spectacular whole, de-boned whiting on chips cooked in goose fat. Sometimes it’s worth it.
T+L Tip Swing by Le Bar, the sumptuous downstairs space modelled on the fabled Hotel Costes bar, for a drink and supper. It doesn’t take bookings.
The Details Ground floor, Crown Casino, 03 9693 3888; bistroguillaume.com.au; dinner for two $180.
Maurice Terzini first made his reputation with Caffe e Cucina and the Melbourne Wine Room before conquering Sydney with his distinctive style at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, aided by chef Robert Marchetti’s assured Italian flavours. So the trattoria named in honour of their fathers is something of a homecoming.
Terzini’s septuagenarian papa is likely to be there, welcoming you with a glint in his eye and full display of the family charm.
Anyone who’s tried the seaside informality of Sydney’s North Bondi Italian Food, the Terzini-Marchetti prototype for Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons, will see the similarities. It’s a casual, yet sleek and moody, Italian fantasy. The bar acts as holding pen, since you can’t book, the wide-ranging menu of rustic Italian dishes acts as placemat on bare tables where the cutlery and condiments sit in a sunken bin. Thankfully, the waiters are far friendlier than you’ll find in Rome. Everything is so shrewdly designed and styled. The salumi case is backlit so the hanging meats glow like a cathedral pietà. Beside it stands a gleaming red slicer. It’s expensive ($10-$14) for what you get, but what price culatello (backside) so divinely sweet and rich?
This is irresistibly seductive Italian cucina. Every dish shimmers with satisfying flavours that flame greater desire, whether it’s nibbling on plump arancini (fried, meat-filled rice balls), puntarella – a pleasantly bitter and salty salad of chicory, dandelion, anchovy and asiago cheese; or raw and delicate hand-harvested scallops with truffled dwarf peach and lemon. For the hearty, there’s pasta fagioli: a wintry soup of borlotti beans, pancetta and pasta; spaghetti arrabbiata and succulent milk-braised veal shank with mash.
In keeping with the Italian panache, there are 500ml and one-litre carafes of wine on a list of predominantly Italian drops that kicks more goals than AC Milan. A trio of cannoli, Sicilian fried pastries, filled with sweet ricotta, mocha zabaglione and vanilla custard is divine enough to convince me to approach Arnaldo asking him to sign adoption papers.
T+L Tip Great spuntini (snacks) in the bar between 4pm and 6pm if you’re peckish.
The Details Ground floor, Crown Casino, 03 9694 7400; idrb.com; dinner for two $140.
Celebrity meets sushi in this Japanese-style chain from Hollywood superstar Robert De Niro and his equally famous chef and business partner, Nobu Matsuhisa. Nobu is chirpy and informal, yet formulaic and an antidote to the cultural cringe. Its main contribution to local culture is Manhattan pricing that made it the most expensive, yet generally underwhelming, of my seven meals. It’s not that it’s bad, but if you want to blow $36 on wagyu beef gyoza (Japanese dumplings) – I’ve had equally good ones in suburban Japanese eateries for half the price – come to Nobu (one of 17 around the globe). The extensive menu, with a strong seafood spine, weaves Peruvian influences through its Japanese core, yet seeks popular appeal in sweet flavours.
Yet to give credit where it’s due, Nobu Matsuhisa changed sashimi and spawned countless imitators of his “new style”. But by 8pm on our Wednesday visit, numerous sashimi have run out, a disappointment exacerbated by being rebuffed as we try to order various fish. Still, gurnard glistens translucently and it’s superb. Tuna otoro (belly) is decadently fatty, like oceanic foie gras. Later on, the famed miso-marinated black cod pleases, with the caramelised contrast of sweet and salty. The textured room offers plenty for the eye, although the table and banquette heights don’t match up. The service is “have-a-nice-day” upbeat as the waiters wave their hands about in what seems like a frantic sign language; perhaps because the room is so loud you can’t actually hear them (or your dining companion). The final disappointment is the wine list at prices that would provoke a Travis Bickel rampage. Are we getting taken for a ride?
Interestingly, just a year after Nobu opened, Crown announced it was taking over the day-to-day management of the restaurant. Maybe locals know best.
T+L Tip Dine upstairs in the bar (no bookings), where there’s actually some atmosphere and you can hear your dining companion.
The Details Ground floor, Crown Casino, 03 9696 6566; noburestaurants.com; dinner for two $210.
Fancy a century-old bottle of champagne? Number 8’s your place. Naturally, the 1907 Heidsieck & Co Monopole Gout Americain comes with a great story. At $13,200 a bottle, it’d want to. For lesser mortals, this pleasant and egalitarian restaurant boasts 887 other bins. Amidst its flashier moments, the wine list remains accessible with a great range of benchmark Australian wines, plenty of back vintages and the grand French marques, even if the vintages can be scrappy.
Number 8 is Crown’s surprise package, setting the pace for what a modern Australian crowd-pleaser could – and should – be. The service is a touch American preppy, but there’s a genuine warmth and attentiveness in an extremely busy restaurant.
The food has its moments of mod-Oz frippery, but overall, the combinations are solid, the flavours strong and the serves generous. The kitchen’s smart enough to not try to fuse cultural bases and hangs mostly around the Mediterranean. Although the slow-roasted pork belly was slightly wan, it’s freshened up by bitter treviso with beans, frisee and apple in a lovely contrast. Garlic prawns and chorizo enjoy the company of agro dolce (Italian sweet-sour) roasted capsicum. For mains, three King George whiting fillets fanned over green beans with smoky bacon are another pop hit, even if the squirts of creamy mustard dressing along the sides of the square plate are a bit cheesy. Roasted duck breast on sautéed spinach with a green peppercorn sauce is another well-executed dish. The apple and blueberry crumble is just like Number 8 – warm, hearty and much better than you’d expect.
T+L Tip The sommelier’s recommended wines are marked with an “8” on the list to help you fake being an expert.
The Details Ground floor, Crown Casino; 03 9292 7899; number8atcrown.com.au; dinner for two $175.
We’re sharing a $30 entree of grilled king prawns, so the kitchen has very kindly plated up a prawn each. That’s right. One Prawn. Each. Very nice it is too, marinated, sweet and buttery, but if I’m paying $15 a prawn, then I want to devour the last of the species.
Rockpool Bar & Grill is something of a spiritual home for the corporate lunch crowd and the handsome, masculine room of dark leather and honey timbers plays to carnivores. This Melbourne foray has been so successful for Sydney-based Neil Perry that he now plans to open a similar version in his hometown.
There are some curious affectations to the expansive menu, which lists abalone as the “wagyu of the sea” (does that make wagyu grain-fed abalone?), and Joselito jamon Iberico as “the world’s best” among a choice of five hams. Along with 10 mostly Mediterranean-flavoured hot “starters” and a similar number of mains, there are cold seafood dishes, salads and the star of the show, more than a dozen beef cuts cooked on the wood-fired grill. They range from the extravagance of David Blackmore’s wagyu with nine-plus marbling scores to dry-aged, three-year-old grass fed beef. If you’re a steak buff, this is the place to test your mettle.
Perry’s approach focuses on prime produce and keeping it simple amid the occasional retro and childhood flourish, whether it’s macaroni cheese, onion rings or corned silverside with carrots and mustard sauce.
Steamed clams and Iberico ham with white beans is superb and the red wine-braised wagyu short rib with mash and gremolata is all comfort. If you really must, there’s a credible vegetable tagine.
The leather wine list is the sort of book Readers Digest loves condensing and tests whether you have the nerve to match your wallet. Thankfully, the sommelier is a fine navigator and overall, the service is sharp and attentive.
Rockpool Bar & Grill is like riding in a Bentley. It’s solid and comfortable. You’ll hardly notice the corners, but then it helps if you can afford a Bentley in the first place.
T+L Tip Pull up a seat at the bar for arguably Australia’s best wagyu beef burger.
The Details Ground floor, Crown Casino; 03 8648 1900; rockpoolbarandgrill.com.au; dinner for two $210.
What a graceful room, full of impressive antiques and the ultimate accessory, a Mongolian silk tent in the middle of this richly timbered dining room. Silks looks like a Chinese palace and features more gold than China’s Beijing Olympic team, right down to the chopsticks.
But something was lost in translation during my weekend lunch. The normally warm service feels about as personable as a Tiananmen Square soldier, exacerbated by some confusing miscommunications.
The large menu features plenty of Cantonese favourites and seafood and numerous ways to spend lots of money. Bird’s nest soup for $145 anyone?
There are no pork buns, I’m told. Well, since they’re not on the menu – it’s a la carte, rather than yum cha – I wasn’t going to order any, so I’m glad that’s sorted. I’d like lobster sung choi bao, but several minutes after ordering, I’m told there’s no crayfish. Not one for any of the menu’s multiple cray dishes. How inauspicious.
Steamed baby abalone with salty blackbean sauce could be habit forming and at $13 a pop, are a fraction of the price of the other abalone dishes. However, the King Island crab dumplings suffered from too-thick pastry and the spicy Sichuan classic from the Qing Dynasty, ma po beancurd, was pedestrian. Seafood and Peking duck are strong suits for Silks, plus the Cantonese beef is a cracker. When the bill arrives, the lobster sung choi bao remains on it. We had the enjoyable (and cheaper) quail version, but it seems not everything here runs as smoothly as silk.
T+L Tip Lunch and dinner banquet menus at varying price ranges, plus a choice of several excellent Chinese teas.
The Details Level 1, Crown Casino, 03 9292 6888; www.silksatcrown.com.au; lunch for two $185.
“I can especially recommend the crepe special tonight,” says our waitress.
Waitress: “No, but I want to and I think it looks really good.”
There’s a bit of that about The Brasserie. It looks really good, with a pared back yet conventional brasserie decor, a fine French sommelier and an efficient crew who’ve learnt their lines, even if ad-libbing’s not a forte. It’s likeable, reliable and good value. Philippe Mouchel, a Paul Bocuse protege, is Crown’s original superstar chef. This venture is more relaxed than you might expect and the riverside terrace is perfect for Seine-like fantasies. Mouchel’s assured enough to give the standards of unfussed provincial French cooking a shake where it’s deserved, yet deliver clear, bold flavours, such as six snails awash with pungent garlic butter in a cast iron tray. A trio of prawn “fritters” is wrapped in long bon bons of deep-fried pastry with wilted cos underneath and a pot of tomato jammy relish, which suggests that one day this disappointing entree hopes to grow up to be a prawn cocktail.
Lovely roast rabbit is filled with a “porchetta style” stuffing on a smattering of lentils, beside a medley of grilled Provençal vegies scented with fresh rosemary, the combination underpinned by a black-olive jus. That brasserie staple, steak and chips, is cooked with aplomb – in this case sirloin, perfectly seared, moist and tender, amid a handful of beef options.
While the baba for dessert lacked any real booze kick, La Brasserie remains a deft setting for a pleasant meal. You’ll want to try it. I can especially recommend it.
T+L Tip For even better value, try the menu du déjeuner (lunch menu): 2/3 courses for $38.50/$44 per person.
The Details Ground floor, Crown Casino, 03 9292 7808; thebrasserieatcrown.com.au; dinner for two $170.
Simon Thomsen is the chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and co-editor of The SMH Good Food Guide.