A STAR IS BORN
The curtain has lifted at a new restaurant and cocktail lounge in Sydney’s Glebe. With a superb cast and a number of standout performances, the stage is set for a great night out, writes Erina Starkey.
WHILE THE CITY’S performing arts community gets back on its feet, the spotlight has fallen on restaurants and bars to fill the void. It’s a role they’re taking seriously at Beckett’s, a new bistro and cocktail lounge in the artistic enclave of Glebe in Sydney’s Inner West.
The new diner is owned and run by two Glebians, ex-Bayswater Brasserie chef Jeff Schroeter and playwright-director Wendy Beckett, who was a regular at the artists’ colony at Blackwater Studio down the road.
The opening marks the second act for 134 Glebe Point Road, the former site of Darling Mills, one of the early pioneers of the farm-to-table movement.
These days, the cavernous brick-walled dining room is looking as glamorous as ever, thanks to a golden age fit-out by Wendy’s set designer.
White-clothed tables and velvet curtains set the scene, while shell sofas provide the perfect place to perch, martini in hand, taking in the tinkling of Beckett’s grand piano.
The menu is a line-up of opulent bistro dishes, from Polanco Baerii black caviar with buttermilk blini, to a blushing pink chicken liver parfait with gold leaf bling. The vanilla lobster’s lighter-than-air vanilla emulsion is really just a support act for the succulent lobster meat. However it’s the escargot en cocotte (stage name for snail pie) that steals the show. The gastropods are given a warm autumnal braise finished with a perfect pastry lid.
134A Glebe Point Road, Glebe