Hot on the heels of celebrating four years of Riley Street Garage this month — no mean feat for an inner-city Sydney establishment — the Parlour Group has opened its highly anticipated new venture, Stanton & Co., in Rosebery’s ever-swelling foodie precinct The Cannery.

The team behind the group’s impressive venues like Surly’s and Riley St Garage has brought a new slew of Aussie-Japanese flavours to a heritage warehouse space. And it comes complete with a huge deck that’s perfect for lazy afternoon sundowners.

The design team has taken cues from New York’s Meatpacking District, as well as north American comfort, to create a space that is both industrial, welcoming and elegant. This is the second generation of Riley St Garage for an up-and-coming community on the city fringe. And with neighbours like Three Blue Ducks, Da Mario and Archie Rose Distillery, the time for Rosebery is now — and Stanton & Co. is front-and-centre of this new food frontier. 

While Stanton & Co. opens Wednesday, November 15, we’ve got an early look. In partnership with Zantac we’re uncovering the best new restaurants and bars around Australia as they open. We’ve got the lowdown on the team, the design and — most importantly — the menu so that you can head in educated, excited and ready to take it all in — with a few dishes recommended by the chef, no less.

Stanton & Co. is the newest project for the Parlour Group, also responsible for Surly’s in Surry Hills, Paddington’s Village Inn, and of course Riley Street Garage in Woolloomooloo. Owner Brody Petersen admits that the thrill of creating new venues made another opening hard to resist.

“Watching the first customers come through the door, and everything running smoothly — knock on wood — is an amazing feeling and it’s kind of addictive,” he says.

Petersen, a Canadian native who has a stint at Harvard Business School under his belt,  brings to the project his long-time Group General Manager Bay Kilpatrick, as well as Executive Chef Regan Porteous and Head Sous Chef Marcelino Papio, both of whom have been kicking it with the group since the opening of Riley Street Garage four years ago.

Porteous brings his flair for Japanese cooking to the group, having come fresh from five years at Toko in Surry Hills. Prior to this he spent 15 years working in international kitchens in such diverse locales as Dubai, London, Hong Kong and even Istanbul, though often working with Japanese-style cuisine, which he now mixes with modern Australian to crowd-pleasing effect.

Proving that Stanton & Co. is a collaboration of the Parlour Group dream team, they’ve also again enlisted the design prowess of Jeremy Bull and Sophie Harris of architecture firm Alexander & Co. — the studio is responsible for the fit-out at Surly’s and other Sydney faves the East Village Hotel and The Sheaf.

“I’ve really loved the way Jeremy Bull gets involved in the design process,” says Brody. “Him and his team are very creative, but really easy to work with.” And the love-in is mutual: “Brody and Bay and their whole team are super enthusiastic, they are very open…it’s just a very effective team culture, really outcome-focused — everyone gets on really well,” says Bull.

The Cannery is so named because it was originally the Rosella Soup Cannery. This roomy warehouse space was once a hurricane fencing manufacturing plant, and it’s this heritage of metal and steel that has sparked the inspiration for the Alexander & Co. design. The brief was to create a second generation of Riley Street Garage that took cues from the Meatpacking District of New York City

“What we tried to loosely do was to take some of those cues from that industrial language,” says architect and founder of Alexander & Co, Jeremy Bull. “The Meatpacking District is about scale and volume more than anything else — and history.”

“The entire roof had the feeling of the exposed, rusty red trusses and then timberwork on the ceiling. [The space] had beautiful, mottled brick detailing on the walls. The floors were all recycled hardwood — textured, dark woods with quite a lot of life in them.”

So they set to work complementing these heritage features by bringing steelworks into the doors, windows and furniture, and the red tones into other finishes, such as red stones in the benchtops. The venue is also blessed with lots of natural light that shines in through white window frames and into the kitchen, which is visible from front-of-house.

Bull notes that the real cultural flavour behind the design came from Brody Peterson’s Canadian heritage. “He comes from this north American world of great, big, long bars that are comfortable, generous and relaxed. He says ‘do what you need to do to make this a generous experience'”. 

About those sundowners. Confident of their sunny position and their tasty concoctions, team Stanton & Co. will serve cocktails in carafes and jugs, because who wants to leave the warm rays of the sun deck for a jaunt to the bar? That and a curated wine list and trim tap beer menu will help to wind down even the most stressed of the local worker folk.

While diners can expect a “definite comparison” to the cuisine at Riley Street Garage (any complaints? Didn’t think so), Porteous, who’s the lead curator of the menu, says there will be a fresh new focus, incorporating more raw fish.

“We will have quite a strong raw influence where we source the best sustainable seafood we can get our hands on,” he says. “But it’s about delivering it in a modern way, a creative way, a fresh and exciting way — like new-style sashimi and carpaccio. We’re coming in to spring and summertime, so obviously it has got to be very catered towards light dishes, big flavours and fresh flavours.”

Given the Cannery is home to a growing list of exciting names in the food and beverage scene, like Black Star Pastry, Three Blue Ducks, Da Mario, and Archie Rose Distillery, Porteous has created a menu of dishes and flavours you won’t be able to get anywhere nearby. “It’s about bringing to the community a point of difference. We’ll have that with the big balcony outside, the sun and the cocktails.”

“We’re very excited to be part of a new up-and-coming area,” adds Petersen. “I think Rosebery is probably still about a year before it is really pumping, so we want to get in, put our feet down, get involved with the community and just have fun.”

CHEF’S PICK: FIVE DISHES TO ORDER 

So what should you order? Porteous has spent months on this menu, so we thought he’d be the best person to ask. Here’s five of his favourite dishes on the menu at Stanton & Co. 

Stanton & Co. is now open at The Cannery, 61–71 Mentmore Avenue, Rosebery. For more info, visit parlourgroup.com.au/stantonandco.

Keen to check out more newbies? Have a sift through the newest crop of Sydney openings.

To find out more about Zantac, visit the website. Zantac relieves heartburn. Always read the label. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist consult your health professional. 

Words: Katie Mayor. Images: Kimberley Low.