May we suggest, with gentle urgency, that you don’t leave Watermans – the new Barangaroo venue from the hospitality duo behind Bentley Restaurant + Bar, Eleven Barrack and King Clarence – without ordering dessert. The sheep’s yoghurt parfait with its sunset-peach sorbet topper, especially. There are gold nuggets of honeycomb in the middle, a dusting of scarlet sumac on the top, and it’s a joyous blend of sweet, sour and tang. Actually, get two desserts. You also need the brik bougatsa – a Greek pastry slice filled with crème pâtissière and cherry jam, with a powerful, headily fragrant aniseed sorbet on the side, kind of like ouzo ice-cream.Â
They’re both knockout examples of the creative cooking at this laidback, indoor-outdoor venue with its rust-red and caramel décor and fairylight-spangled outdoor terrace. And they’ll burrow into your memory bank and make themselves comfortable, long after you’ve left.
But let’s rewind to the main bit of the menu because there’s plenty to talk about there as well. The pitch is “Eastern Mediterranean” which is a somewhat opaque way to group the food of Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Lebanon. It’s led by Brent Savage, the food force behind all of Bentley Group’s venues and executive chef Darryl Martin, previously of the now-closed Barzaari. Head pastry chef Beyza Ates (Koi Dessert Bar, Mr Wong) is the architect of those non-negotiable desserts and the eternally affable Nick Hildebrandt takes care of the Med-led wine list (bonus points if you spot him Lime biking off to the group’s nearby grill, Eleven Barrack, to zip back with an off-menu bottle of something special upon request). Â
Every dish is a rainbow of colour, like a spilled jewellery box, but not one garnish or ingredient is there for aesthetics alone. The chopped baba ganoush is a turbo blast of textures and tastes: soft squishes of date, crisp slivers of radish. The riff on a tiropita – Greek cheese pie – is basically a miniature skyscraper of pastry stuffed with dates and feta, wearing a jaunty little caper leaf beret. Savage encourages you to eat it all in one go, but it’s equally delicious tackled top to bottom, so the sweet and savoury unfolds bit by bit. The fried chicken gets its shattering crispness from potato starch batter, and its cleverness from an accompanying flurry of potato flakes that add even more crunch. The lountza, an oblong of Cypriot cured ham, comes over all Christmassy with its sweet and sour blood plum sauce, but it would make sense at any time of the year.Â
In fact this whole restaurant – with its sunny outlook, share plates and DIY herb pots out front – makes perfect sense. This is the way we love to eat today: friendly and flavourful. But do yourself a favour. Order dessert. Two of them. Trust us.
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