11 March 2011
SYDNEY'S FELIX; AND HOT BRASSERIES
The hottest reservation in Sydney right now is Felix. Part of the Ivy complex, centrally located in George St only a few steps from Martin Place, it’s classic brasserie, offering traditional brassiere food, even if a few dishes have a slight nod to current Australian cuisine. It’s fitting that of all the nine eating options and nineteen bars that Merivale.com has unleashed on the city on this one site, that Felix draws the keenest crowd. It seems to be the latest step on the evolution of the brasserie, and there’s no equal in New Zealand.
Brasseries dominated the Parisien dining scene for decades. Grand in conception, accessible for most diners and boulevardiers, these classic establishments offered simple yet wonderful French food with a goodly selection of beers on tap, wines and plenty of Champagne. When I was a language student in Paris in the seventies, the brasserie La Coupole in Montparnasse was the place to go. There’s an iconic interview with Micky Jagger that was filmed there, and countless writers have included tales of long lunches, liaisons and dinners. Like all the grand brasseries of Paris, such as Terminus Nord, Flore, Lipp et al, art nouveau or belle epoque décor reigns, and banquette seating and freshly shucked oysters are de rigueur.
Many of Paris’ brasseries are now owned by the Group Flo, and have perhaps lost a little of their individuality, tending to process customers like they are all tourists. There’s a wonderful story in Adam Gopnik’s Paris to the Moon of how the regulars and neighbourhood tried to thwart the sale of their favourite haunt to this group. They lost. But my favourite Brasserie Bofinger, despite being owned by the Flo group, is still an essential call for me whenever I return to Paris. We even chose it last year to surprise a friend for a very significant birthday celebration.
The master of ‘restaurantism’ in New York, Keith McNally successfully recreated the Parisien model with his Balthazar brasserie in Soho. You’d swear you were in an old French institution with brass railed sections, plenty of banquettes, and a seedy paint job deliberately created to look like the place has been there forever. Superb classic dishes like steak and fries, pan fried whole sole, fishy soups and of course trays of freshly shucked oysters on the menu, and not forgetting wonderful sourdough bread and ice cold butter. No self respecting brasserie would ever serve olive oil! Balthazar is as hot as the day it opened, and you’re likely to sit next to a film star or a Ponzi trader.
So Felix had heaps of inspiration to draw on and have done the brasserie thing really successfully, albeit with a shiny new look rather than the distressed décor of Paris and New York. The bar especially is a gem, with plenty of room to imbibe while waiting for a table, even when you score the necessary reservation.
And the food at Felix? Deliciously authentic. There’s great hunks of chewy bread, ice cold butter (yay!) and a menu that’s not too long and not too complex. Five varieties of Sydney Rock oysters shucked to start, then a delicious smoked trout salad with sweet caperberries and lots of really fresh tiny greens, which reminded me of the perfect French bean salad with fresh lobster I had eaten at Bofinger last year; crisp, simple and very refreshing. There’s wonderful Reuben sandwich in a nod to New York, and tripe cooked Lyonnaise style or flank steak with a mountain of crisp golden chips in deference to France. French wines by the glass (the Sancerre was perfect with my oysters) good puds too and excellent coffee. I will be back, even if the Ivy folks think Felix is a bistro, rather then the brasserie it is.
330 George St, Sydney ph 61 2 9240 3000