Social at Verandah

At the Social at Verandah, which was revamped in May 2018, executive chef Brad Sloane takes a whole five-kilogram pig, and debones, stuffs and rubs it with herbs and fennel seeds before it’s roasted in the oven for three hours. The porchetta is carved at the table and served with Paris mash, cider jus and apple sauce. The kitchen needs 24 hours’ notice and it sets diners back a cool $750. This is a variation of the whole suckling pig offered at Balmain's Riverview Hotel, Sloane’s former stomping ground.

The restaurant arm of Sydney CBD’s Verandah Bar is garden-like; there are hanging plants, timber furniture, rattan finishes and natural light from the open terrace. Diners can grab a seat at the handsome bar or lounge in the olive-green leather booths and sip from the decent wine and cocktail list, which features 30 local and international gins.

You can come here for two courses or for drinks and nibbles. Sloane plays to his British-Italian cooking strengths. The menu includes small plates of kangaroo tartare and yabby-tail tortellini, and mains of striped trumpeter fish with Jerusalem artichokes and dry-aged T-bone minute steak.

There’s also a nettle gnocchi, a great example of Sloane’s cooking style because it melds classic Italian potato dumplings with English stinging nettles.