First Look: Hotel Ravesis Reaches Its Potential As Alzado, a Seafood-Driven Spanish Diner

The balcony-wrapped dining room above Hotel Ravesis, with its original 1914 arching windows overlooking our iconic stretch of sand, has long been a Sydney favourite for leisurely long-lunching, post-City2Surf partying and schooners downstairs after a day in the sun. But from tonight, Alzado is in residence on level one, signalling a new, more considered era for the corner.

Coastal Spain’s dining style is the reference point: just-caught seafood, plenty of lemon, salty snacks, simply dressed veg, vermouth. All are at Ravesis now, sprung into action after owner Aya Larkin felt something was needed to reach the dining room’s potential.

Seafood is the hero. Dip your toe with oysters, anchovy-topped pan con tomate and saucy calamari-stuffed rolls – or dive in with a whole squid straight off a flash new plancha; a tidy line of sardines, grilled whole then topped with parsley, garlic and lemon; the fish of the day, cooked with clams in wine; or the star when Broadsheet dined: a zippy salad of preserved tuna, green olives and young onion.

“It’s the location for it,” executive chef Pablo Tordesillas, ex-Merivale, tells Broadsheet. “I wanted authenticity: strong flavours, Australian product – local provenance as much as we can.”

That preserved tuna is a dish seen all over Spain, powered by the country’s “massive” canning industry. “You get bonito tuna, normally in large tins or jars. In bars and restaurants, it’s a simple way of serving it – with a good tomato or something seasonal. In this case, those young onions.”

The team – Tordesillas and head chef MJ Olguera – has elevated it by house-preserving albacore tuna (which is lighter in colour and not as full-flavoured as bluefin or yellowfin) in olive oil infused with lemon, garlic, fennel seeds and bay leaves. The result is super tender juicy meat.

That same oil dresses the tuna on your plate, along with thin slices of young green onions, salt, lemon zest and green manzanilla olives with their brine.

But, the grilled whole calamari, equal parts smoky and fresh, was ferried across the dining room more than anything else. “The guy on the plancha was getting the shits,” laughs Tordesillas. “It was pretty much every order – I could see it landing on every table. He wasn’t happy, and I said, ‘well you’d better get used to it’.”

For that dish, the Aussie Luminous Bay squid is the chef’s cephalopod of choice – and it’ll be in season soon.

Beyond the sea are crisp discs of fried eggplant, croquettes and veggie-powered sides. Plus, lamb ribs, a sirloin to share hedged by fries and pork cheeks. The house Martini is fuelled by oyster-shell gin, and a menu of Spanish and Aussie wines begins with a small selection of vermouth.

You reach Alzado via the wide open staircase, which is now the home for local artist Daimon Downey ’s textured ceramic cactus leaves and an oversized sculptured light by Melbourne’s Brahman Perera.

Alzado
Level one, 118 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach

Hours:
Daily midday–9.30pm

alzado.com.au
@alzado_bondi