GOURMET TRAVELLER 55Hartsyard 2.0 rifs on its previous form,
but with a lighter, more up-tempo
rhythm, writesPAT NOURSE.
“H
ave we ordered
a meal entirely
of crackers and
dip?” asks my pal.
Whoops. Didn’t Cher’s character
inMermaidsmake dinners entirely
from canapés? Clearly a woman
ahead of her time. But Hartsyard’s
offerings aren’t hors d’oeuvre dainty- they’re robust things full of
flavour. This is what they do here.
Cheddar puffs are crunchier
and less ephemeral than the name
might imply, more like savoury
crostoli, powdered with what
our waitress calls Reuben spice,
dotted with rounds of kohlrabi
and served with an airy dollop
of Dijon mustard.
Above: scampi
and prawn
tartare with
salt and vinegar
chips. Above
right, from
left: co-owners
Naomi Hart
and Gregory
Llewellyn with
head chef
Jarrod Walsh.Brewery bread, two dense,
toast-brown pucks made with
spent grain from the beardy beer
guys at Young Henry’s down the
road, comes with a large clot
of cultured butter, splashed in
turn with an oil flavoured with
the French curry-spice blend
vadouvan. Is $11 expensive for
bread? Maybe. But it seems just
about right for oiled butter.
This is Hartsyard 2.0. The
hardware is much the same –
boiler-room glam, the tables
nude, the chairs metal, the marble
bar complemented by Edison bulbs
and shelves crafted from pipe – and
the buzzy, neighbourhoody vibe
has deepened since it opened back
in 2012. But the software has been
updated, putting the focus more
on fish and vegetables.
The best example of this new
approach is wedges of a beefsteaky
raw tomato with bits of barbecued
calamari, small leaves of basil and
a whipped-sesame sauce. The playHarts
beat
PHOTOGRAPHY ROB SHAW
of give and resistance between
the two lead ingredients, plus
the shattery crunch brought
by bugak, Korean-style chips of
seaweed coated in glutinous-rice
flour, make it a pleasure to eat.
If the tomatoeswere top-shelf,
it’d be a table-thumper.
The food is definitely lighter.
This is of course a relative concept
in a restaurant that made its
name saucing buttermilk fried
chicken with sausage gravy, topping
poutine with short ribs and putting
bacon in the Manhattans.
Now the fried chicken has
moved up the street to Wish Bone,
the new eatery that Hartsyard’s
owners, manager Naomi Hart
and chef Gregory Llewellyn, have
fashioned from what used to be
their bar, The Gretz. The bull-in-a-
lolly-shop desserts that were once a
feature, meanwhile, have followed
former pastry chef Andrew Bowden
a couple of blocks up Enmore Road
to his new café, Saga.Sydney review