Everybody’s

Overview

Those old enough to remember Fort Street’s seedy past still get a kick out of a stroll down Fort Lane. After the street’s $13-million dollar makeover a couple of years ago, the downtown stretch has become the city’s answer to New York’s Meatpacking District.

Everybody’s is nestled in the 100-year old heritage buildings between Queen St and Fort Lane; it’s a multi-levelled wide-open amalgamation of heritage bricks and 70’s style New York loft fittings, with strains of Brooklyn funk drifting through the rafters.

The dinner menu kicks in from 5:30pm, and if you head along for an early dinner, you’ll have the pick of the place, from large community tables, to the row of plush booths upstairs (plush being used in the least adult-film kitsch way possible).

Naturally, you’re gonna want a word or two about signature dishes at Everybody’s. The fact is, every dish at Everybody’s is a signature. Ex-French Michelin-starred Rockstar chef James Pask makes every bullet point on the menu sing with modern European flavours. Storm (“Like the lady from X-Men”) at Front-of-House will start by recommending the roasted agrias, toasted hay, buttermilk, sage & almond beurre noisette ($9). A sweet and sour dream caramelised to perfection, layman’s roast potatoes they ain’t. Our eyes far too big for our stomachs, so we also threw in the Angus roast beef, smoked onion rings and smoked and salt-baked beetroot, walnut apple and goat’s curd.

But let’s not get ahead of the starter – a bread plate with a generous dollop of in-house, triple-whipped aged malt butter. This stuff you could eat with a spoon.

For drinks, there’s always Lawrence the resident mixologist, who, armed with a few scant pieces of information made us bespoke cocktails; one, a symphony of butter vodka, chocolate liquor cinnamon and egg (which he dubbed the Playground Flip in our honour) and the other a Rum Manhattan, made with small batch Barbados rum.

The masterstroke for those who simply can’t make a decision is the ‘Feed Me’ option ($69 per person), which sees you at the mercy of the chef, who chooses your dishes for you. Trust him, he should know.