The Fenwick

The Fenwick is a venture by the Sydney Restaurant Group, which is behind eight notable waterside venues, including Lumi, Ormeggio at the Spit, Chiosco, Aqua Dining and Ripples. The Balmain site was tied up in red tape for 17 years, so when it came up for tender the group took no chances, spending two years working with the Inner West Council to ensure the company secured the distinctive waterside venue.

The restored sandstone building’s front archway frames a view across to Luna Park (and Aqua Dining if you squint hard enough), the Harbour Bridge and along the Barangaroo foreshore.

The menu was designed by Italian-born executive chef and co-owner Davide Rebeccato (Aqua Dining, The Nielsen). For breakfast there’s scrambled eggs served on French toast with prawns, eggplant and baby spinach, and poached eggs with asparagus and cavolo nero on sourdough, with parmesan fondue. At lunch you can eat pickled sardines served with Spanish onions and sultanas, or for some proper seaside dining, snapper tail served with lemon-and-garlic-butter sauce with a mixed-leaf salad. Pasta is made in-house – there’s a gnocchi with wild mushrooms, black truffle and scamorza cheese, and a spaghetti with prawns, pecorino, black pepper and lime.