Overview
Sydney Common is anything but. The newly launched restaurant is located an easy stroll up the curving lobby stairs on the second level of the Sheraton Grand Hyde Park where tall windows welcome in a unique leafy aspect of the park without the inconvenience of Elizabeth Street's pedestrian and vehicular traffic obscuring the view. A pleasant start.
The restaurant space is sleek, spacious and elegant, perhaps unremarkably so. But it's when the food hits the table that things start getting exciting.
The menu has been created by Head Chef Jamie Robertson under the mentorship of culinary legend Martin Benn (formerly of Tetsuya's and Sepia), and that pedigree comes through at every stage of the dining experience.
The hero ingredients of each dish are neither overworked nor underplayed. A side dish of charred monterosa tomatoes served with goats curd, smoked oil and togarashi is eyebrow-raisingly delicious, for example. Also excellent is the impressive opener of tuna crudo, precisely cubed and accompanied with tomato jelly and buffalo yoghurt — a technical marvel and highly photogenic dish that doesn't underdeliver in the flavour department.
Woodfired cooking is the centrepiece of the kitchen and menu, where the grill is applied to everything from a dry aged Hereford grass fed rib eye cut, vegetables (including the aforementioned tomatoes), and a seasonal seafood lineup that could include Aquna Murray cod, John Dory, Yamba prawns and grilled scallops with nduja.
Sydney Common's core team comprises Director of Food & Beverage Adam Leonardi, Restaurant General Manager James Curtis (ex-Aria), and Head Sommelier Sebastian Brogren (ex-Bentley Restaurant and Bar) curating the drinks program with a 260-bin wine list that celebrates classic Australian producers and showcases both new and old world wine.
The offering of hotel dining in Sydney is no longer catering purely for in-house guests in need of convenience. Restaurants like the Capella's fabulous Brasserie 1930, Mitch Orr's dynamo menu at Kiln on top of The Ace, the near-impossible-to-get-a-table-at Encore by Clare Smyth at The Crown Barangaroo, and now Sydney Common are making hotels a legitimate destination for locals seeking out great food and service - no staycation necessary.
Sydney Common is now open for lunch Fridays and Saturdays and dinner seven days at the Sheraton Grand Hyde Park, Level 1, 161 Elizabeth Street. Bookings are available now via Seven Rooms.
Image credit: Steven Woodburn