22 May 2009
Pat Nourse
The Observatory Hotel, 89-113 Kent Street, Millers Point.
+61 2 9256 2215.
Pleasantly clubby and lushly appointed, with comfortable chairs and clusters of framed New Yorker prints in the mode of the private library of an eccentric plutocrat. The little touches, such as keeping a box of spectacles on hand for those who leave them at home, are appealing, but count for a whole lot more now that the food has had a jump in quality. Chef Masahiko Yomoda has already turned heads with his duck, foie gras and mushroom pie, and ocean trout with wasabi cream. But the beauty of the current menu is the range of pricing options: you have the option of blowing serious dough on the degustation or taking it easier with a $16 country-style terrine with sauce ravigote and a $25 plate of roast quail. Visionary stuff; dare we say the restaurant’s namesake would approve?
Open: dinner Tue-Sat. Licensed. Mains $22-$49.
Source: Qantas The Australian Way June 2009