There are some hits, some misses and fake olive trees at the signature Coogee Beach venture by the beloved British celebrity chef.
Seafood$$$
In the subcategory of “British chefs with TV shows on endless repeat”, I can’t think of another presenter as widely loved by Australians as Rick Stein. It’s the soft Oxfordshire accent and enthusiasm for fish; it’s the effusive tours of markets and kitchens from Cornwall to Chennai; it’s the general vibe of a bloke who you want to clink a schooner or semillon with and chat about cricket or the coastal walks of New Zealand or whatever, really.
If you’re a Rick fan like me, you probably know that he launched a Coogee Beach restaurant with his wife, Sarah “Sas” Stein, in early December. Perhaps you’re one of the hundreds who booked a table weeks in advance when reservations opened for the 220-seat venue. And perhaps, like me, you thought $55 was a lot to spend on a fillet of overcooked blue-eye trevalla.
Rick Stein at Coogee Beach is on the street level of the InterContinental Hotel, a big white brick of a thing which is to significant architecture what Alex Warren is to music. The money behind the operation comes from Salter Brothers, a funds management business that oversees $5.4 billion of assets across hotels, property and other endeavours. With so much dosh flying around, it seems odd that the Kiama-chic dining room is dotted with fake olive trees instead of real, potted ones. A large Salter Brothers sign near the restaurant’s entrance is very real, though: “Alternative Investments. Actively Managed.” Cool.
Fake corporate trees weren’t going to kill my enthusiasm for “Rick’s fish and chips” with mushy peas, though. It’s a dish I’ve ordered many times on the South Coast, at Bannisters in Mollymook (these days, also actively managed by Salter Brothers), where Stein’s team has been frying battered fish in beef dripping, Northern England style, since 2009. Fat and suitably flaky fillets of hapuka get the same treatment at Coogee, and the flavour is long and extra-savoury.
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Other highlights across my visits included a “Catch of the day” fillet of precisely cooked John Dory perched on a brothy, butter-glossed petit pois (pancetta lardons, lettuce and peas). The XO pipis had depth and bite (a bowl for the shells would have been welcome, though); a prawn cocktail with sliced avocado and Marie Rose sauce was textbook Christmas Day gear; a twice-baked crab souffle, generous with the blue swimmer, thrummed with umami.
Everything else I’ve encountered can largely be categorised as “totally fine but unremarkable”. Spawny-creamy oysters that could have been colder; a blunt Indonesian curry teeming with Skull Island prawns, pink ling and cuttlefish; a fish pie that demands a glass of something crisp and white to cut through the cream and stodge. Singapore-style blue swimmer crab boasts buttery sea-sweet flesh, but the chilli sauce fails to launch and there’s no serving spoon for the rice.
One evening, the carrots in a “melange” of vegetables were borderline raw and unpeeled, and yes, I know the skin is full of nutrients and whatever, but you should expect more care and craft for a $15 side. The only real shocker, however, was that pasty blue-eye cooked “in the English style”, which means dressing the fish with clarified butter and sliding it under a grill (and, in my experience, keeping it there too long).
But even if the dining room can become noisy when it’s at capacity, and the well-meaning staff can take a while to clear plates and refill glasses, I’m still keen – or at least interested – to return. There’s a part of me that believes Stein can, one day, oversee a great Sydney seafood destination, even if he does look after several joints in England, too. In the subcategory of “British chefs with Australian restaurants”, no one gets more benefit of the doubt.
The low-down
Atmosphere: Coastal hotel restaurant with plenty of guests wearing pastels and linen
Go-to dishes: “Catch of the day” with petits pois a la Francaise ($53); Coffs Harbour king prawn cocktail ($35); XO pipis ($34); Rick’s fish and chips ($45)
Drinks: Sweet, fruity cocktails and a respectable mid-sized wine list with recognisable French and Australian names
Cost: About $210 for two, excluding drinks
This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.
Callan Boys is Good Food’s national eating out and restaurant editor.Connect via X or email.
