Beachfront seafood restaurant Rick Stein at Coogee Beach is now open, marking the English chef’s first venue in Sydney following the popularity of his restaurants at Bannisters properties in Mollymook and Port Stephens, on the New South Wales South Coast.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to open in the CBD,” Stein said to Gourmet Traveller, “because the connection between my restaurants and the sea is very important to me. The ethos of my restaurants almost requires that they be by the sea.”
Based on the ground level of the gradually opening InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach (formerly the Crown Plaza Coogee, prior to a significant renovation by new owners Salter Brothers), the restaurant has a relaxed coastal aesthetic across a main dining room, outdoor dining terrace, two semi-private dining rooms and a bar.
With a catalogue of 30 television programs, including 12 series, Stein has been popping up on Australian screens for decades, with an overt adoration for the spoils of the sea and the food cultures that centre them.
“I’d been to Coogee in the past — to the Coogee Bay Hotel — and think I even came here when I first came to Australia in the ‘60s,” recalled Stein, “but when I came recently I noticed that it has a real local feel for somewhere so close to the city. Every second person said hello to me.”
The 224-seat venue is a step up from the more boutique offerings in his portfolio on the South Coast of New South Wales — “a monster,” as Stein puts it — but its spirit remains the same. “It’s mostly about straight-off-the-beach eating, with a nucleus of more formal dining.”
Seafood stars — obviously — with Stein spending time at co-ops near his Bannisters venues, as well as at the Sydney Fish Markets, to source seafood for the menu, which head chef Colin Chun (Hilton Sydney, Pullman and W Taipei) will oversee.
As well as the quality, Stein says he’s inspired by the variety of fish on offer in Australia. “Fish like snapper and blue-eye… flathead is a favourite — there’s so much flavour in so many of the species,” he says. “I like paying attention to under-appreciated species too, like leatherjacket.”
His unmistakable voice shines through on Rick Stein at Coogee Beach’s menu: XO pipis are described as “one of my favourite seafood dishes — particularly when made with Australian pipis.” Elsewhere, oysters Charentaise invites diners to “eat an oyster, take a bite of sausage, then a good gulp of cold white wine.”
Rick’s fish and chips, in the style of his sell-out Padstow chippie, are fried in beef dripping and come with mushy peas and tartare sauce, and a grilled blue-eye trevalla is served simply with Hollandaise. Dishes with Asian roots — a favourite of Stein’s himself — include his famous Singapore chilli crab.
A small bunch of dishes including a steak frites (sirloin, with Café de Paris butter) placate the seafood averse, and desserts feel English with a cherry trifle, steamed honey sponge with double cream, and chocolate fondant in the mix.
As part of the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach, Stein’s restaurant joins 198 renovated guest rooms (including 22 suites with outdoor baths); Mediterranean-inspired restaurant Shutters; and pickleball courts on the beachfront. An infinity pool, leisure deck with a poolside bar and day spa will join in March. “I’ve been asked to open restaurants in hotels a number of times in the U.K. and said no… but this is different, it feels right,” said Stein.
Stein has one request of diners visiting his new Sydney restaurant: that you eat the whole prawn. “The prawns here are the best in the world; I can’t stand how most people don’t eat the heads of prawns in this country!” Consider it a serving suggestion.
Rick Stein at Coogee Beach is now open at 242 Arden Street, Coogee inside the InterContinental Coogee Beach. Bookings are available online.
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