Bentley Restaurant & Bar

Good atmosphere. I walked in without a reservation and was able to get a table for two. The staff were nice and unpretentious. Food was great. Try the dessert too you would be surprised.

Came for a drink, stayed for the degustation. Sensational. Not just for the midweek lunch but an outstanding overall menu. Lots of knowledge around the wine selection and don’t miss out on the pork cheek. Highly recommended.

I’m staying at the Radisson hotel and decided to try the Bentley. I came here on Jan 2. It was closed on Jan 1. I have no idea what it’s about. I learn that it’s a tasting menu. You are locked in. I selected the five course option because I had a date. The swordfish was the best of my prep plates. The first dish was calamari. It was exquisitely tender. The sauce was almond and a little sweet for my taste. The wine pairing was a Riesling like flat apples. It was fine. Blackened pork belly went the other way with a little too much salt. The Grenache paired with it was entirely drinkable. Waiting a long time, I had time to look around. A lot of time. The décor is somewhere between old Sydney and industrial chic. Neither wins or makes a statement. The flow of traffic is annoying as the entrance cuts through the bar area and the kitchen. Everyone is running around like they are serving a dinner for three hundred at the same time and the place looks like it seats 40. Service was very, very slow… Not intentionally but because they were running around like crazy. It did start to slow down and become more enjoyable but I was getting late for my date and the third course hadn’t shown up. It did. The steak was soft and tasteless. The one was good but I forgot what it was so I asked. It’s a Syrah. The best of all for me. I asked them to hurry for the desert and it came out right away. I think it had been ready and waiting. The desert was fine and the muscadet served with it sweet and nasty. I drank it a anyway.

Frankly, I’m surprised at the weak scores for Bentley’s. We came for a blow out dinner and that is what we got. It seems the other reviews were mostly lunch or snacks?
My experience here was simply first rate and in fact one of the best meals I’ve had since coming to Australia. Bentley’s is impressive visually, with a a multi level experience across the bar and eating area. Very modern and chic, if a bit dark.
The menu is not complicated nor long, but the dishes are complex and elaborate combinations of unexpected ingredients. I love that, but I guess it’s not for everyone. The dishes do require explanation from the wait staff, which normally I don’t need. But that speaks to the interesting nature of the dishes! I had the cured venison wrapped in some kind of vegetable — delightful. My wife had the quail as a starter which was even better. My main was the chicken. I haven’t ordered chicken as my main in a fancy restaurant in probably 20 years. I just find chicken too dull. But the waiter recommended it as their best dish. He was right — it was absolutely stupendous. Breast, stuffed with slivers of various things in a chestnut and browned butter sauce. OMG it was amazing.
Wine list is huge with a lot of relatively obscure European regions and vineyards. The sommelier is a bit aloof, but he knows his stuff. We took his reco for a white (a SB from Victoria) which was very good. We didn’t take his reco on the red opting for an Ardeche. It was only ok.
Service was top notch, as expected in a restaurant of this caliber.
My thinking is that Bentley’s is a restaurant for adventuresome foodies. If you are, you’ll love it.

Our evening nearly didn’t begin. There is no sign out the front of this restaurant, and when you go into the foyer there is no sign inside either. (I do know how to get to the Lady Fairfax Room, though, so it wasn’t all for nought.)
We take a punt and mosey up the stairs. Hmmm… this is the hotel reception. Still no idea where this restaurant is, so I decide to line up to ask the receptionist. That’s when my dinner partner points and says «Oh look, Bentley». Tadaa… the sign was behind us!
OK, we finally get in there. The décor is modern chic and the service is friendly — professional without being too snobbish. The sommelier knows what he’s talking about, though the wines are ludicrously expensive.
The food is first class, but the entrees are teeny tiny. My dinner partner ordered a seafood themed salad, and let’s just say that it had more lettuce than seafood. When we’re paying main meal prices for an entrée, you’d expect it to be generous.
Nevertheless, the mains hit the spot and we were too full for dessert. I considered coffee, but I have a mortgage.

Mr Savage, you had my heart all aflutter with your restaurant/​bar finding itself listed on all manner of «best chips in Sydney» lists. I’d heard claims of them being chunky like Matt Preston’s fingers and crisp like early mornings in July. With all this on my mind Bentley was on the top of my mind when a friend proposed a last minute Friday dinner in the city. Yes, purely for their chips.
Don’t judge me, you know you’d do the same.
Bentley is a great place to go if you want a table in the city on a busy Friday night without a reservation. Plenty of tables free both in the restaurant and the bar, but not so quiet that you can’t do a bit of people watching if dining alone or waiting for a friend.
The service is a delight — super friendly and professional without being stuffy. Our waiter had great knowledge of the menu — definitely needed when dishes are only described by their ingredients. Our fish and beef were cooked perfectly and presented beautifully but other than that, only memorable for the steep price. The green beans with hazelnuts however I could have eaten all day — just cooked to al dente and super morish with a nutty, umami sauce of some sort.
Oh and the chips? Well I’m sure you could tell by my rating but sadly they we quite disappointing. Yes they were thicker than your average chip but don’t have enough crunch and lacked that glorious starchy texture on the inside. If anything they were just like… corner store wedges? Le sigh
Time Out says they’d go back, even if just for a bowl of chips and glass of wine. Mmmm yeah maybe if you have money to burn and we swap the chips for some green beans. Then we can talk.

Solid winelist. Had a Shiraz and a Cab Sav, both were really good.
The space was pretty, as was the plating. The food tasted fine, but definitely nothing superb. I had no idea this place had any hats… let alone two hats… until I read that just now on Unilocal.This definitely didn’t feel like a two hat restaurant, and DEFINITELY didn’t taste like one.
I’d only come back here for a night cap if I stayed at The Radisson again.

We had a meal here a few months ago based on the recommendation in time out. We enjoyed the meal at the time the double fried chips were a highlight. However my wife fell very ill that evening she remembered eating one of the honey bugs which was liquid and on reflection not good. This can happen anywhere so I phone up to let them know what had happen. The manager was not available so they took a message said they would call back which they never did. My wife phoned again and talked to the manager who was basically rude and took the line that it could not have been their food.
Bad seafood can happen bad customer service is unacceptable especially at that price.

I only very occasionally eat at $$$$ restaurants, so take what i say with a grain of salt.
I was eating here with a group and we were all getting the tasting menus; I had the vegetarian tasting menu but tasted several of the non-​vegetarian dishes. As a meat eater, I wasn’t wowed by any of the meat dishes but I really enjoyed the vegetarian ones. There was a great combination of some familiar and some unusual flavors. We also had wine pairings, so the meal was very long and at the end I was pleasantly satisfied and drunk, but certainly not full. The courses were very small, but I expected as much, and was not disappointed. My favorite courses were the two desserts (the same on either tasting menu).

Really wanted to give these guys a four, or even a five, but to be honest it was a bit of a struggle. It was all very nice, but, I dunno, didn’t wow me.
The location is good, and the fit out moody, woody, dark. Bit confusing when you walk in as no obvious reception but someone will come up and ask who you are etc and show you to the seat.
I was early so had time to review both menu and wine list in detail.
Wine list — extensive to the point of almost pretentious, but nevertheless a very good range of mainly European wines with good explanation and pictures of the regions they are from. Pretty pricey, but pretty much what you would expect from a two hat joint.
The menu is nice, and sounds good — lots of obscure flavours and references, and all in all for my current sensibilities a bit over-​wrought — but that is just me, to be honest, with diners fatigue. However, having recently eaten at Monopole, another one of chef Brent Savage’s establishments, I was expecting good things.
We started with fresh oysters — lovely and cold, fresh and crisp. I had Pork Cheek + Garlic and Yoghurt Purée + Radicchio + Jamon — it was interesting. The pork was very tender and soft, with a crust I couldn’t identify, but only just warm. However, wonderful taste combination. Crispy fried radicchio — shades of a kale chip!
For my main, Rangers Valley Skirt Steak + Fennel + Mustard + Olive. Hmm. Skirt steak was very tender, but again, barely warm. The fennel and mustard was delightful, but the olive a bit overpowering to my taste buds, which by now are well lubricated with a nice french burgundy.
The side of Sugar Snaps + Zucchini + Asparagus + Pinenut was interesting, with thin shaves of zucchini, a pinenut purée and crumb, and sugarsnaps and asparagus, served cold, like a salad, again not what we were expecting but flavoursome.
Dessert — why not be rude not to. So I selected the Violet Ice-​Cream + Cocoa Honeycomb + Blueberry, an interesting combination beautifully arranged elements.
The service was attentive without being obtrusive, and the wine waiter helpful when our first choice was unavailable.
I will likely go again, and perhaps a review upwards may be forthcoming, but for my money I would rather go to Monopole — like I said, could be just me being a bit over fussy food, decide for yourself, it is certainly worth a visit.

Very disappointing for 2 chefs hat. Entrees were strange — kingfish tasted nothing like kingfish but mains were the worse. Scampi and seafood broth was too salty with the broth more like a gravy and sirloin was tasteless.
Unlikely to come back.

The only word I can think of to describe the food at this two star establishment is disappointing, well stingy comes to mind for the amounts served and expensive is another thought.
We had the tasting menu, big mistake. The wine list is extensive, but found it confusing to navigate.

For a ‘2 hat’ restaurant I expected more.
The entrée oysters were good but not great.
The pork main was average and uninspiring.
The service was friendly but not flawless. A dribble of wine on the outside of the glass and a spill of the water whilst pouring I can personally ignore more it just shouldn’t happen in such an expensive restaurant.
The bread and butter was amazing mind you; however, this isnt what you come here for.
The wine list is a breath of fresh air though and very extensive.
Overall the table was generally pleased with their food but they weren’t blown away…

Deliriously edible — and we were only there for a drink.
Will write more once I’ve been back.