Food News: Epic Steakhouse coming to North Sydney from the Lou Lou Bistro team this Spring.

By ANNA USHER

Local diners heading into CBD for a sirloin fix can forget about travelling over the bridge, with a top-notch steakhouse set to open in North Sydney next month.

Fire, wood and charcoal are at the heart of Poetica, a refined bar and grill welcoming customers from September 1 with chef Connor Hartley-Simpson at the helm.

The 120-seat restaurant, with a stylish bar and outdoor spaces, is located at 1 Denison St.

“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 letting the produce be the hero,” Hartley-Simpson told Mosman Collective this week.

Along one side of the spectacular interior space is an impressive 700-bottle wine wall, glass-fronted dry-ageing cabinets and a 15-metre-long open kitchen with a Josper charcoal oven and wood-burning hearth.

This faces floor-to-ceiling glass windows and doors, opening out to four intimate terraces and an adjoining 40-person bar set to be the perfect afternoon destination for North Sydney workers.

The restaurant menu begins with ten raw and cooked starters, including Sydney rock oysters with a twist. At Poetica, these salty delicacies can be enhanced with hot beef fat melted on top in a technique called ‘flambadou’ and then topped with nduja and Guindilla peppers.

If smoky, slow-cooked big meats are your thing, you can look forward to an ever-changing range of whole sirloins, T-bones and tomahawks on the sharing-based menu, with a range of lighter options offered if steak isn’t your thing.

“There’s swordfish, dry-aged on the bone for around seven days, that sits above the fire slowly cooking until the last minute when it gets a flash on the hot grill to caramelise,” Hartley-Simpson says, “served with a buttery roasted fish sauce that is poured tableside.”

Elsewhere, you’ll find a rainbow trout, butterflied, cured and then grilled directly over the wood to crisp the skin, and a slow-cooked pork jowl in a black garlic and honey glaze.

The Poetica team is led by Mathieu Mozziconacci (Loulou Bistro; Felix; Mr Wong) as General Manager, with Angela Gallo (Totti’s Rozelle; Merivale events; Mr Wong) as Restaurant Manager. Head Sommelier Michael Block (Buon Ricordo; Gastro Park; The Bridge Room) brings more than 30 years of restaurant experience with him. While former Barbershop and Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth alumni, Kieran Lee, heads up the bar experience as Bar Manager.

Poetica is the latest venue by hospitality specialists Etymon Projects, the group behind The Charles Grand Brasserie & Bar; Loulou Bistro, Boulangerie & Traiteur; and sophisticated late-night lounge bar, Tiva.

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.

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