With its soaring ceilings, art deco details, handsome wood joinery and walls inlaid with onyx marble (hinting at the building’s history as a bank), it feels as though new Sydney CBD brasserie The Charles has been around since the golden ’30s. It’s the latest venue by Etymon Projects, the group behind Milsons Point bistro Loulou, and the crowning glory of a new three-part project that also includes an all-day diner and wine bar next door, and a bar in the basement below.

While Loulou is French to its core, The Charles flits around Europe. And old-world European service is central, with dishes carved and sauced tableside.

“I did my apprenticeship with Guillaume [Brahimi] at Bennelong, but though French cooking is my background, here I’m allowed to incorporate Spanish, Austrian and Italian,” executive chef Billy Hannigan (The Ledbury, London) tells Broadsheet.

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Like those grand European brasseries, The Charles is leaning into the idea of a specialty (but it’s opted to have two of them). There’s a marble-score 9 Black Opal Wagyu rump cap, cooked like an English-style Sunday roast and carved at the table. But the real show stopper is the pressed duck: a whole dry-aged duck is presented at the table on a silver platter in a nest of Douglas fir and lavender before it’s returned to the kitchen, fried to get the skin crispy, and carved. Bits of the duck are then put through a copper-plated press to create a rich sauce, and the deconstructed bird is served to the table on a silver tray.

Austrian influences permeate the mud crab, which is served with a house-made pretzel – a stylish take on a lobster roll, according to Hannigan – and the Viennese schnitzel. And the pastry shell of a classic French vol-au-vent is stuffed with yabby, sweetbread and drizzled with a bisque.

In a rarity for Sydney, a dessert trolley roams the room for both afternoon tea and dessert. The work of Rhiann Mead (former head pastry chef at Bennelong), it’s stocked with baked goods of varying “shapes, height and colours”, she tells Broadsheet.

Expect classics like lemon meringue tart, a 28-layer Russian honey cake that takes two days to make, and moulded chocolates (Mead did her apprenticeship under a chocolatier), including the pastry chef’s take on a Snickers bar and a Ferrero Rocher. Carrot cake was apparently a must, while the classic afternoon tea includes a caviar service, scones, and crab and gruyere tarts.

“It’s such a beautiful, grand space, we want to have everything classic and well done, nothing too pretentious or over the top,” says Mead.

Director of wine Paolo Saccone’s selection heroes grower champagne from small French producers. And cocktails are by director of bars Jonathan Carr (The Gidley, About Time), who aims to replicate the elegance of the food. A Negroni en Blanc is served either as a single serve or in a decanter for the table, while cacao Manhattans are poured over a large chunk of ice emblazoned with The Charles’s logo.

H&E Architects, in collaboration with Cox, were tasked with balancing heritage features – like the black marble and brass detailing – with newer elements, such as a stately timber staircase to the mezzanine level above. White-clothed tables are lined up in front of curved banquettes before the open kitchen, while a trio of booths are set within a wall niche.

The Charles Grand Brasserie
66 King Street, Sydney

Hours:
Daily midday–midnight

thecharles.sydney
@thecharles.sydney