“It’s definitely a strange name for a restaurant,” Thomas Bromwich tells Broadsheet. “But it’s a bit of a subverted expectation thing.” He’s talking about Ennui, the two-storey dining room he’s opening together with mates Samuel Woods and Peter Chan later this year.

“[Ennui is] sitting in your job for a really long time, unhappy with what you’re doing, or wishing you were doing something else – which is a feeling we’ve had in other jobs,” Woods says. “We all thought, ‘Let’s do our own thing and hopefully never feel this again’. It’s a very honest statement.”

In other words, the team used their ennui to propel them into Ennui.

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The idea was to open a small wine bar, but the 80-seat reality is much bigger. If you frequent the area, you’ll recognise the heritage sandstone building. On the corner of Pitt and Hay Streets, opposite the Capitol Theatre, its sandstone charm sets it apart from the new builds surrounding it.

Bromwich and Woods worked together at Darlo wine bar Love, Tilly Devine – Bromwich in the micro-kitchen, Woods on the wine and managing the venue (currently he’s front of house at the Bentley Group’s Yellow). Chan spent the last decade working in specialty coffee and also brings a love for whisky (plus an expansive collection).

“At Love, Tilly, you’re a single chef working in a tiny kitchen,” Bromwich says. “It taught me a lot about keeping things delicious and simple, but presented in a nice way.” Nods to the laneway wine bar are expected.

Take the bright burrata with carrot XO, which tables often ordered twice in a night over its three years on the Love, Tilly menu. “We’re going to bring that to Ennui, but in an updated, more restaurant vibe,” Bromwich says. “People who enjoyed our time at Love, Tilly are definitely going to find something familiar and comforting, and hopefully a surprising twist.”

Snacks will range from Thai-style chicken wings (a take on a lunchtime favourite Woods’s mum would make) and Szechuan pepper-crusted wallaby to savoury parfait-stuffed eclairs. A Peking duck meets duck a l’orange number is coming too, with a bird salted, glazed and dry-aged – then smoked, roasted and fried. The team hope the rich serve will become a signature.

There’s plenty of wine across both floors, while the ground floor will house a cocktail list by Kiaran Bryant, an ex-Earl’s Juke Joint bartender.

“This is such a great opportunity. I think we, ideally, over the next 10 years that we have our lease, can build an iconic Sydney restaurant.”

Ennui is expected to open at 461 Pitt Street, Haymarket, in late August 2024.

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