First Look: Arthur’s New Era Is Unbuttoned, Unbothered and Unbudgingly Australian

The name. The address. The commitment to Aussie produce. That’s what you’ll recognise when you step inside Arthur. But after seven weeks of reinvention, everything else is different.

The change starts with the menu. Chef Tristan Rosier and his partner and co-owner Bec Fanning (who also own the Hot Listed Jane in Surry Hills and Fior in Gymea) have ditched the degustation format that’s served them for the past seven years in favour of something a little less buttoned-up: an à la carte menu and a strong happy hour offering – similar to what they’re doing so well at Jane.

“It’s what I see myself cooking at the moment,” Rosier says. “I think a set menu is great – you can really go down that rabbit hole and explore things – but inevitably it gets interpreted by people as quite rigid. [The new menu is] just resetting things to be how I like them. The food can be quite serious and creative and have a natural rusticity to it, but it doesn’t mean that everything else has to.”

All three of Rosier and Fanning’s restaurants are committed to local ingredients. Everything from proteins and wines to staples like olive oil, flour and seasonings are all made and grown in Australia. If they can’t find a local supplier, they’re faced with two options: make it themselves (which Rosier does for sambals, curry pastes and XO sauce) or work without it.

For the past seven years, they’ve been cooking without vanilla. That changes with the new menu thanks to supplies from Bloomfield Vanilla in Far North Queensland. “He grows it in his backyard,” Rosier says. “We’re getting some Australian-grown coffee as well, which we’ve never offered before.”

The new menu also includes braised kangaroo tail with warrigal greens; mussels with a native curry sauce and kohlrabi; a hash brown – the spiritual sister to Jane’s layered potato cake – with sea urchin butter; and raw bluefin tuna served with pickled cumquat and a kale paste. But the biggest showstopper is possibly the ham and cheese quail, which sees brined bird stuffed with leg ham, washed-rind cheese, crumbed with sourdough and fried. It’s served in a pool of chicken jus, scattered with fine herbs.

The new fit-out is built to welcome a laid-back crowd who might be popping in for a drink and a snack or settling in for a long evening. It’s a whole new space. “We did gut it, so every piece of joinery, every piece of furniture is brand new,” Rosier says.

But, strangely for a man who has just sunk weeks into a refit, Rosier is looking forward to the first spills and scratches. “I want to see the room getting used and abused,” he says. “I love a patina on things. I love it to feel used and like it’s been there forever. I want people to relax. It feels more comfortable when things are a bit dinged up.”

The kitchen has changed, too, to cater to a capacity of 60 guests. “We have a bespoke cooking suite from Control Induction, which is, like, the most elite piece of equipment you can possibly buy. It’s like my midlife crisis. I think it took about a third of our budget, but it’s a dream kitchen.” There’s also a new bar, which is the place to be during Australiano Hour.

From 5pm to 6pm from Tuesday to Thursday and 4pm to 6pm Friday to Sunday, there will be $10 cocktails and snacks, $3 prawns served on ice, $7 beers, plus dishes from the main menu available at a more approachable pricepoint. Cocktails include a snap-pea Gimlet, a Negroni made with Aussie amaro, and a boozy Mont Blanc.

“It’ll be an evolution,” Rosier says. “In some ways, it’ll be more Arthur than it’s ever been: we’re turning up the dial. All the things that were good about Arthur – you’re getting more of that.”

Arthur reopens on Thursday July 23.

Arthur

544 Bourke Street, Surry Hills

0468 991 088

Hours:

Tue to Thu 5pm–10pm

Fri & Sat midday–11.30pm

Sun midday–10.30pm

arthurrestaurant.com

@arthurrestaurant