It’s been a while since I did a restaurant review, so I have a couple for you over the next few weeks! The first one is Bea at Barangaroo House; Matt Moran’s new three-storey restaurant and rooftop bar in Barangaroo (Sydney’s new foodie hub) that has insane views over the harbour and river. Bea is on the middle level and is the high end restaurant, whereas the bottom floor has a more casual dining experience, and the top floor is the rooftop bar; Smoke. Max was back in town from the UK with work, and so I told him where to meet me and we were lucky enough to get a table right on the edge by the view.
The view is a little obscured by a high wall with planters on top, so you have to sort of peer over to see it properly. If you’re sat back you can’t see it at all, so definitely try and get a seat by the wall/planters! The reason I chose Bea is that Max has been *desperate* to eat Kangaroo steak ever since he first came to Sydney back in December. Bea is one of the few restaurants in Sydney that serve it, so Bea it was. And boy do we have zero regrets over that choice.
We both chose Raw Kingfish with preserved lemon ($15) to start with, and as we had both opted for heavy main courses, this choice was perfect. The kingfish was just delicious, the light flavour of the fish combined with the zesty lemon was ideal for such a hot day.
Max naturally went for the Kangaroo steak with a blueberry dressing ($38), and I chose the Scotch fillet ($46), and I’m not afraid to say it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Sides-wise we went for the Asparagus with tyrant ants ($14), and Wood fired potatoes ($14) that were probably the dreamiest potatoes ever. Max ADORED the tyrant ants…I have no clue why, he said he just thought it was really cool that you could eat ants and they were nice and crunchy.
As you can probably tell from the ingredients listed above, Bea specialize in native Australian and local ingredients. We were really impressed with everything, and we hadn’t even had dessert yet! So, dessert. You guys. We shared the Chocolate and caramel ($19) that was in the shape of Barangaroo House, and Oh. My. Days. It was insane. It was so, so good. I still dream about it. It was essentially a chocolate cake filled with caramel sauce, so when you break into the chocolate cake a moussey-caramel sauce filling spills out. DREAMY.
Promise me if you’re visiting Sydney you’ll try Bea at Barangaroo House? I reckon it’s one of Matt Moran’s best restaurants yet, and it’s the perfect blend of not-touristy/beautiful views/beautiful restaurant/central location/incredible local food. What more could you want from a restaurant when you’re visiting (or living in) Sydney?!
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
The kangaroo and ants make me nervous, and this is coming from someone who'll eat anything that stays still long enough! I would've definitely ordered the steak and potatoes too! x
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That steak looks like perfection!
It was honestly incredible! x