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PHOTOGRAPHY ROB SHAW
I’m afraid“12-Micron” is not an accident.
I thought the name might be just a quirk, a sort of tic
of branding, aslub in the fabric of its ID work. But no.
I have a feeling someone got paid well to come up with
some of the “concepts” that inform the look and feel of
this new, very large restaurant. Things may have even
been curated. And some of these things are very silly
indeed. Realforehead-smackers. But fortunately, in the
middle of it all, lurks some surprisingly good food.
To find the place, you walk past the hoardings
labelled DANGER ASBESTOS and the stunning
battlefield of drills and cranes that marks the site of
the new casino. Ride the lift up to level two of Tower
One – aka The Big One – at Barangaroo and as you
step out you may spy a sign that says the venue is
licensed for 500. It seats closer to 230, but that gives
you an idea of the space we’re dealing with here. This
is clearly a big investment.
Which makes things like the way the menu is
structured all the harder to understand. If you were to
spend a lot of money to open a large and ambitious
restaurant, would you run with the tried-and-true
method of entrées, main courses and desserts? Would
you go with the more modish shared-plates approach?
Or would you divide things instead into Earth, Ocean,
Land, Air? Would you put cheese under The Milk Artists?
The Milk Artists?
Between each of these headings and the dishes is
a line in italics – a line with a purpose that’s hard toSplitting hairs
Vast new Barangaroo restaurant 12-Micron offers much to intrigue the
discerning aesthete. And, writes Pat Nourse, some of it is very tasty indeed.SYDNEY REVIEW
fathom, unless it’s an experiment to see how diners will
react: will you clutch your head in agony, or simply
laugh heartily? I’m hard-pressed to say which of these
lines impresses me most. Is it the one accompanying
Ocean:Onewhoswimsfree,andconsumestheweak?
Or is it Air:7R À\ IUHH DQG EH REVROHWH? Clutching your
head and laughing at the same time is also an option.
This isn’t simply a matter of aesthetic delicacy.
It’s a question of clarity. Of efficiency. It’s not especially
clear which dishes are entrées and which are main
courses. It’s not something all the staff appear to be
across, either. (And don’t, for god’s sake, ask them
what the distinction between Earth and Land is.)
They’re also not all that great at explaining the
name. A micron, or micrometre, is a millionth of a
metre: 0.001 millimetres. Spider-web silk is usually
between three and eight microns in diameter, while
human hair can range from 17 to 181 microns. Twelve
is apparently a desirable thickness for a fibre of wool,
10 being about as fine as it gets in fleece. What this has
to do with the restaurant is not immediately apparent.
There’s a lot going on decoratively speaking: in
an effort to put the palette of the bush to work, Sydney
firm SJB has brought stucco panels and many pieces
of timber dowel to bear. Silver leaf and leathered
granite evoke the grey-green of a eucalypt forest, and
the various spaces teem with Resident and Casamania
lounge seating, Expormim dining chairs and stools
by De Padova. The fittings are at times quite splendid.>BOLD MOVES
Above from left:
12-Micron’s executive
chef, Justin Wise;
lobster omelette.