Overview
North Sydney is set to score a grand new steakhouse with a 120-seat restaurant, 40-person bar and four sunny outdoor terraces. Opening on Friday, September 1, Poetica comes from Etymon Projects, the hospitality team behind fellow North Shore standout Loulou Bistro, Boulangerie & Traiteur, as well as the CBD's The Charles Grand Brasserie and Bar and Tiva.
At the heart of Poetica will be a firing charcoal oven, a custom wood-burning hearth, and an impressive 700-bottle wine wall. Head Chef Connor Hartley-Simpson (who also helms The Charles) has created a menu that fervently leans into these fiery forms of preparing produce — all of which can then be paired with the perfect drop from Head Sommelier Michael Block and Director of wine, Paolo Saccone.
"In the kitchen, we're focusing on using incredible local produce, dry-ageing in-house, cooking with either charcoal or wood where it works, pickling and fermenting to play around with flavours, and really letting the produce be the hero," says Hartley-Simpson.
As expected, your sirloins, t-bones and 90-day aged tomahawks all grace the sharing-based menu, but there are plenty of exciting dishes to look forward to if you're not so steak-obsessed. For starters, you can kick things off with Sydney rock oysters done differently. At Poetica, these salty delicacies can be enhanced with hot beef fat melted on top in a technique called 'flambadou' then topped with nduja and Guindilla peppers.
Elsewhere, the braised leak, nori and eel starter is drizzled with oil made from charring leek tops; a chilli yuzu scallop will lead the raw section of the menu; and seafood lovers can opt for the swordfish steak, dry-aged on the bone for seven days and assembled table side with a buttery roasted fish sauce.
The oven and hearth will be located within a 15-metre-long open kitchen in the dining room. Across from the kitchen will be floor-to-ceiling glass windows leading to the al fresco dining areas, calling out to host a catch-up between friends.
Etymon's culinary director Sebastien Lutaud promises the restaurant will be "a welcoming vibe that works as well for entertaining clients over lunch as a dinner with friends or a drink after work."
Opening on the mezzanine level of 1 Denison Street, Poetica is the latest addition to a bustling North Sydney hospitality scene — following on from another multi-space dining room RAFI which opened late last year, and a pair of new takeaway spots in Greenwood Plaza from charity-driven hospitality group Plate It Forward (Colombo Social, Coyocan Social, Kabul Social).
Poetica will open at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney on Friday, September 1. The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner Tuesday–Saturday, and the bar will be open from 12pm–late Tuesday–Saturday.
Images: Steven Woodburn