Whether you classify it as casual or fine-dining, it’s sure going to be hard to look past Bouche on Bridge, the brand new restaurant and bar from English-born ex-Rockpool, ex-Marque chef Harry Stockdale-Powell on – you guessed it – bridge street. The long CBD street is no stranger to culinary excellence, and it’s looking like the newest kid on the block will fit right in with the likes of Eleven Bridge (formerly Rockpool Est. 1989) and The Bridge Room, and it’s not just because Bouche shares a similar love for the street’s name.
Stockdale-Powell and his business partner Emma Darrouzet have assembled quite the team to supercharge Bouche on Bridge, particularly Matt Linklater, a bartender whom has come from award-winning bar Bulletin Place to handle the cocktail list at the restaurant’s 60-seater basement bar, The Cellar, with a strong focus on “sustainable libation”. Also on the team is Head Sommelier Seamus Brandt (ex-Rockpool Bar & Grill), crafting a 300-strong wine list for the subterranean drinking hole, showcasing a variety of drops, particularly new world wines along with some carefully selected classics.
While Harry’s experience in fine dining will provide the framework for Bouche on Bridge, he says the way the restaurant functions will be closer to casual. “Bouche brings together our fine dining food and service experience but in a more relaxed atmosphere”, he says. “Bouche is somewhere we’d go for lunch, dinner, or even just a drunk a few times a week, not only for a special occasion”.
The 80-seater restaurant’s menu will showcase the chef’s passion for sustainability and locally sourced produce, serving up dishes such as a rare breed suckling pig that is dressed up with unripe fermented strawberries (grown on a Tasmanian berry farm, the same location at which the pig is reared), eschalot tart tatin with parmesan ice-cream, beef cheek hot pot, and rosy snapper served with smoked white beans and Sicilian olives. It’s a diverse menu, with dishes separated into sections marking land, farm, and sea. Desserts are no less interesting, with options like the beetroot, goats milk, and liquorice (headline image).
“I spent a couple of weeks in Tasmania visiting incredible farmers to find the right partners for Bouche on Bridge,” said Harry. “We feel we’ve found some of the best in the country.”
To stay true to sustainability, the kitchen team will be making ingredients in-house wherever possible, this includes fresh bread, cultured butter, cold-pressed olive oil, and cured meats.
While the restaurant works its magic, The Cellar will be distinguished as a destination unto itself, Linklater working in some seriously delicious sounding cocktails with little differences like using off-cuts such as pineapple skin, spine, and pulp. Concoctions on the menu so far include Ananastic, made with absinthe, fino, pineapple skins, and mint, and Crust Buster, a harder mix with a liquorice rum base, armagnac, fennel, and liquore strega, and the Espress Yourself (pictured above), ketel one, amaretto, coffee liqueur, and Single O coffee. There will be a separate bar menu with various snacks including fresh oysters, cured meats, and cheeses.
Bouche on Bridge
Address: 6 Bridge Street, Sydney
Contact: 02 8278 9400
Website: boucheonbridge.com
Hours:
Bouche On Bridge | Mon-Fri 12pm-11pm; Sat 5pm-11pm
The Cellar | Mon-Sat 4pm-12am
Images supplied and credited to Alana Dimou.
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