Overview
Earlier this year, Parramatta-based Jamie Oliver fans mourned the loss of their very own Jamie's Italian. The restaurant closed abruptly amid a national ownership change after the Jamie Oliver Group went into administration. But now the site at Centenary Square has become a restaurant once more, with Matt Moran's Solotel Group throwing open the doors to the second outpost of its CBD steakhouse Chophouse today, Friday, October 26.
The experience of the CBD venue — which Solotel bought from the now-defunct Keystone Group in 2016 — has been replicated in Parramatta, with the site scoring a new fit-out and a similar menu, featuring nine high-end cuts of steak, oysters, potato scallops and lots of sides. Alongside beef sourced by head chef Scott Kim from farmers across NSW — including Jack's Creek, Rangers Valley and Riverine Premium – and dry-aged in-house, diners will find a few new additions to the Parramatta menu. And one of them is raclette.
The hot oozy cheese is served tableside atop a dry-aged beef burger ($23) with shoestring fries (for dipping into the cheese, obviously). Another cheesy option is the burrata with tomato chutney and and sourdough. Vegetarians are, surprisingly, not forgotten either, with with inclusion of interesting sounding cauliflower schnitzel ($26) — even meat-eaters may be tempted to order it (or, maybe, just try someone else's).
If you are a fan of sharing, you'll also find a 1.7kg Tomahawk ($195), full racks of pork ribs ($59) and the Butcher's Block ($50 per person), which comes with two steaks, twice-cooked chips, sauces and two sides.
As well as an opulent dining room, the restaurant also boasts a separate bar area where you can snack on oysters ($4 each) and crab doughnuts ($17) matched with international wines and classic cocktails off the extensive drinks list.
The new Chophouse is Solotel's second venue in Parramatta — it also runs the Albion Hotel on George Street — but it sounds like there's more where that came from. "We've had our eye on expanding west for a while now," said director Bruce Solomon. "And when the offer to open a restaurant in the hub of Parramatta presented itself we couldn't say no."
That, coupled with the fact that Surry Hills' Butter has opened in the suburb and Rockpool and Sake are slated to launch in 2020, makes it seem very likely that more and more inner-city restaurants will produce Parramatta clones. Fingers crossed one of them starts a $10 pasta deal to fill the void.
Chophouse Parramatta is now open at 83 Macquarie Street, Centenary Square, Parramatta. It's open Monday through Sunday 11am–10pm.