Bopp & Tone brings a bygone era back to Sydney

If someone invited to you to Bopp & Tone you might be forgiven thinking that it’s a new Fitness class aimed at bums and tums. You would be half right – it’s for tums, but in a very different sense of the word! It’s a workout for body, soul and taste-buds.

Just a few skips from Wynyard station, the former Steel Bar and Grill restaurant has undergone an eye popping transformation, to a post WWII era with dark woods, art deco cut glass hanging lights, arched windows graced by muslin drapes, velvet booths, an inside bar and a lush garden veranda. Award winning designers Luchetti Krelle (ACME, Manly Greenhouse, ACME and Matinee Coffee) have stepped us back in time.

Now owned by Applejack Group, the restaurant is inspired by the founders’ grandfathers, Keith ‘Bopp’ Evans and Anthony ‘Tone’ Adams, so it’s no surprise that cooking over wood fire and coals is a tradition which Head Chef Sa Va’afusuaga and Group Executive Chef Jason Roberson are embracing – with a mighty fine grill and charcoal oven; it might just be the sexiest part of the restaurant. With a sit up bar, we think its the best chefs table in town.

Expect silky service (like it used to be) and a menu which spans Europe, fiercely showcasing the best of Australian produce from meats to botanicals. Start with a glass of Perrier Jouet Champagne paired with cloud-like fritters of luscious smoked King Salmon and Moolabar King prawns – split, grilled, plated and spectacularly sweet. The showstopper is the whole grilled Hawkesbury River calamari resplendent with smokey char stripes, crispy tentacles just begging for a hefty squeeze from a handsome looking half of caramalised lemon and a dollop of squid ink aioli. The wood grilled meat section gets a bit more serious with a bronzed free range spatchcock and MB7 Wagyu, sliced and served and paired with a Vinicola del Priorat ‘L’Obaga Garnacha/Syrah from Catalonia. Vegetarians and Vegans are looked after with creative botanical dishes (the white polenta with mascarpone beats Aria’s mash potato as now our #1 most loved side dish). A generous tumble of fried cauliflower topped with herbs, smoked open cap mushrooms and farm gate asparagus round out a cracking meal. It’s likely you won’t be able to resist the peanut butter panna cotta so why bother?

There are a lot of things the generations before us got right, going back to basic’s isn’t what Bopp and Tone is about; there is an uncanny complexity in its simplicity. Sustainably sourced produce served with love, care and attentive eye on all the details wrapped up in a level of service we have somehow lost along the way. Its just great to know their is a place to go where can find our way back to those values.