Menu Reveal: Four Dishes To Try at the Arthur x Broadsheet Access Readers’ Preview

After shutting its doors for a six-week reno, Surry Hills restaurant Arthur is set to relaunch this month. Depending on which way you look at it, it’s either (almost) an entirely new venue or the restaurant that the original was always meant to be. For chef-owner Tristan Rosier, it’s a bit of both.

Everything but the name and dedication to all-Aussie produce is changing, says Rosier, who also owns the Hot Listed Jane in Surry Hills and Gymea’s Fior with his partner Bec Fanning. There’ll be outdoor dining, a bespoke new kitchen and fresh interiors designed by Rosier himself. And the food will be snackier and walk-in-friendly in a pivot away from Arthur’s original set-menu-only remit.

Broadsheet Access members can be first to check out the Bourke Street spot’s new direction at our exclusive readers’ preview dinner on July 22. (Though get in quick; tickets are selling fast.) Ahead of the event, we talk to Rosier about making the old new again, the importance of happy-hour prawns, and the one sauce his team can’t get enough of.

You’ve called the Arthur overhaul a “complete reset”. What do you mean by that?

Arthur is our first restaurant and plays an important role for us, so we wanted to completely reimagine what it was and how we wanted to cook for our area for the next 20 years. We didn’t go into this thinking it was a format change – we wanted something bigger. We are approaching this as if it is an entirely new restaurant opening.

Why did you keep the name rather than start something completely new?

We thought about changing it. But honestly the brand has built up so much love and loyalty, and to us it has such huge meaning. The name comes from my grandfather, and we couldn’t think of a more classic or timeless name.

We even looked into redesigning the logo and doing something more modern, but at the end of the day the original logo we created was just so good. We had a conversation with our designer and he said, “It’s like you’re going back to Arthur 1.0.” Like we had veered from where we wanted to go. And that stuck with us.

 What’s different and what’s staying the same from ‘old’ Arthur to ‘new’ Arthur?

The same: the name, the ethos around Australian produce.

The difference: everything else. That comes into the format (going from degustation-only to à la carte), the interiors we wiped back to a shell and redid like a whole new restaurant, our service style is way more approachable, there’s a fully new bespoke kitchen built to service four times the amount of customers per week… We want more people to be able to access the restaurant for whatever experience they choose – a full meal or a quick drink and snack. 

Talk us through some of the dishes and ingredients on the new menu.

Potato hash brown, whipped sea urchin butter: The sea urchins come from Port Phillip Bay. I have a feeling there will be a version of this going onto the happy hour menu, too. It’s salty, crispy and a perfect piece.

Bluefin tuna: We’re going to be showcasing how great the bluefin tuna is from southern NSW. We will have the belly and the loin side-by-side on the plate with some accompanying condiments (smoked salt, pickled cumquat and persimmon, and green paste with parsley and kale). There’s not much going on the tuna itself, because this time of the year it is outstanding! 

Ham and cheese quail: The quail is brined and dried, then stuffed with a washed-rind cheese from the Adelaide Hills and leg ham from Sydney, crumbed with leftover sourdough crumb, and served with fine herbs and jus. This is a real showstopper – you can see it being tested on our Instagram. It’s so crispy and juicy – really interesting, too.

Roasted sugar loaf cabbage with a vegan pear pepper sauce: A lot of time and love goes into the sauce to extract depth of flavour from the carrots, shallots and pear juice. Then we use native pepper to balance out the sweetness of the pear. This is a sauce you want more of – there’s so much flavour. It was one of those sauces where the team couldn’t get over how good it was.

Tell us a bit about the fit-out and what kind of thinking went on behind it.

We wanted to completely reimagine the space for a 2026 diner and beyond. We wanted to enhance every corner, make every space feel different and desirable, so you could come many times and feel like you’ve had completely different experiences each time.

We wanted it to feel quite warm, moody and textural. And we wanted to offer a variety of seating styles from outdoor to bar to group, banquette, kitchen-view and private. We hit all of those areas in a very small space. 

Tell us about your weekly Australiano Hour.

For happy hour we just want to give people what they want. And people love prawns. In their simplest form, they are delicious and we have some of the best in the world. We always love the idea of Australiano Hour being an accessible way to experience a restaurant. It’s a time where you can enjoy what Arthur is, get a little taste, and if you like it then commit. It gives people a reason to come back.

Broadsheet Access will hold an exclusive readers’ preview dinner at Arthur on July 22. Guests are free to roam the entire menu: there’s $150 of credit for each $100 ticket – equivalent to $200 in added value for a table of four – to spend as you please. Tickets are selling fast so log in or subscribe to Broadsheet today to secure your seat. Subscriptions start at just $1 a week.