I must admit I was a little skeptical about Arthur. A restaurant that does an 11 course degustation menu for $70? How can they do it at that price? Do we get 11 tiny morsels of something? How wrong I was. There was so much food my girlfriend and I struggled to finish it even after doing our best to hold off on eating the bread.
We sat at the “bar” (it’s more of a high bench table / island) which I think always makes for a more relaxed dining experience. Sitting there allows you to interact easily with the staff who were great. I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s the best service I’ve had in a restaurant in Sydney in ages.
The staff were extremely friendly and engaging and always there to refill water and wine glasses and answer any questions. One of them overheard me telling my friend I didn’t like garlic then came and asked if I’d like her to check if the chef could do the dish without it.
The Sommelier was also very helpful, happy to explain the difference between the wines to us and let us try a couple to help decide and made us feel fine about not having heard of a couple of the grape varieties.
Wines come in around the $80-100 a bottle, which is (unfortunately) pretty much on par with most Sydney restaurants, so you may find yourselves like us with a wine bill that equals that of the food.
I would describe the food as probably more in the good than extraordinary category but it’s full of great flavours and at $70 incredibly good value. The first 2 dishes, pickled radishes and the artichokes with aioli, were relatively small but the rest were pretty substantial, you certainly won’t leave hungry.
The stand out for me was the beef rib but I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I should as by then I was pretty full. We did however manage to fit most of the dessert in since it would have seemed like a crime to leave it.
The menu is going to change regularly, which to me sounds like a great excuse to visit regularly. I’ll definitely be back (wearing some loose clothes)
544 Bourke Street Surry Hills
0468 991 088