Eleven Barrack, the Bentley Group’s grand new CBD steakhouse, takes inspiration from luxe grills in New York, Paris and London, serving classic dishes with contemporary spins, such as pork bolognese with prawns.
The world’s best grill restaurants typically have oversized menus, are located in handsome buildings, and possess more than a hint of luxury. Sydney’s newest entrant, Eleven Barrack – where even the bolognese has prawns in it – ticks all of those boxes.
The latest CBD venue from the team behind Bentley and Monopole opens on February 4 with a 50-dish menu that sweeps from spanner crab and fish pie with tarragon sauce to a 600-gram Chateaubriand and coal-roasted Murray cod.
Co-owner Nick Hildebrandt even promises some old-school table service. “We’ll finish the glazed chicken salad and the fish pie at the table,” he says.
Hildebrandt and business partner Brent Savage long admired the heritage-listed 1880s building on Barrack Street, home to Sydney’s first savings bank. It briefly housed Italian restaurant Seta, which suffered from opening – or trying to open – at the height of the pandemic.
When Seta closed in 2023, an opportunity presented itself. With its soaring ceiling, massive columns and glistening imported European kitchen that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Hollywood film set, Hildebrandt and Savage felt it was the right place to bring more grandeur to the Sydney dining scene.
They’ve kept much of the joinery, and enclosed one wall with glass to create a temperature-controlled wine storage area so large, that even Hildebrandt isn’t sure how many bottles it houses. Designers Pascale Gomes-McNabb and Chris Grinham have revitalised the space, adding curtains and carpets to soften the 100-seat dining room, along with recycled parachute light fittings for colour. One of the giant pillars has been covered with a reflective purple material.
The aesthetic blend of classic touches and new features has been carried over to the food. “We want to mix old with modern interpretation,” Hildebrandt says, pointing to Savage’s “light” peach Melba as an example of the approach.
“We’ve taken things people are familiar with,” Savage says of his starting point with the menu. Pork bolognese has prawns added to it; a king prawn bun comes with shellfish rouille; the beef tartare is paired with bone marrow; and the spiced tuna steak finished with a pepper and beaujolais jus.
“You can also grab a burger up at the bar,” Hildebrandt chimes in.
Eleven Barrack’s wine list was boosted by the duo’s decision last year to close award-winning Barangaroo restaurant Cirrus, with the cellar relocated to the new project. During the pandemic they also purchased the wine cellar of one of their regular diners, full of big old Lindeman’s and Penfolds wines that’ll match nicely with the steak program.
“We took general inspiration from the bigger grills in New York, Paris and London,” Savage says of the project.
The restaurant will receive a boost in the coming months, when Australia’s first private club for entrepreneurs and investors in the tech sphere, The Pillars, opens on the floors above it.
While Eleven Barrack will be the exclusive caterer to the club, and its members (who have to cough up $20,000 in annual fees) might get a few perks when booking, the two businesses are independent of each other. Eleven Barrack is open to the public.
Open lunch Mon-Fri; dinner daily
11 Barrack Street, Sydney, bentleyrestaurantgroup.com.au
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Scott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.
