Gowings Bar & Grill

For over a century, Gowings was Sydney’s iconic department store. Like its predecessor, QT Sydney’s Gowings Bar & Grill, led by creative food director Robert Marchetti (of North Bondi Italian and Neild Avenue fame), immediately made headlines.

Under the direction of local designers Nic Graham and Shelley Indyk, this 120-seat European-style brassiere glistens with natural sunlight through the restored window frames and features quirky, bespoke touches including micro pineapples in ornament jars, lustrous black tables with caramel art deco chairs, glitzy thimble shaped light shades and walls lined with hand-painted plates of fish and crustaceans.

The open kitchen, led by executive chef Grant King (former owner-chef at Gastro Park and the Antipodean), is in itself a theatrical experience, with a wood fire rotisserie and a dedicated glass seafood room featuring flounder, molluscs and a gigantic piece of yellow fin tuna hanging ready for tartare and steaks. The extensive menu focuses on the wood fired technique with sweet Kinkawooka mussels steamed in a fragrant crème fraîche and shallot broth from the oven and succulent whole roasted quails filled with barley bread and double smoked ham from the rotisserie.

With all-day dining, including breakfast minus the buffet (think detox smoothies and wood fired clay pot free range eggs with cannellini beans and pancetta), this space is the CBD’s one more versatile destinations.