Revamped Sails is back at Lavender Bay – MASHAHER

The number of people who type “Sydney harbourside restaurants with a view” into a search engine is vastly greater than the number of seats actually available at our waterside eateries. As we well know, a table for two at Catalina, Cafe Sydney, Ormeggio, Quay, or The Dining Room by James Viles is prime real estate.

Bill Drakopoulos of Sydney Restaurant Group cottoned on to this supply-and-demand situation nearly 40 years ago with his first venture, Harbour Watch at Walsh Bay’s Pier One. Now, the family-run group oversees everything from Milsons Point’s Aqua Dining (due to re-open in 2025) to various Ripples, Ormeggio at the Spit, The Fenwick, Manta and more.

Its latest venture is Sails, overlooking Lavender Bay, Luna Park, the bridge, and beyond. Home to chef Greg Anderson and partner Patricia Nunes for 15 years, it changed hands in 2023 and underwent a major renovation.

Sails always felt a little starchy to me, at a remove from the harbour with its plate-glass windows and white-clothed tables. Now, it’s more related to the water, taking on the persona of a relaxed luxury weekender. Scallop-edged tables are fringed with comfortable chairs; checks and florals mix and match; and in the central section, doors are thrown open to a small terrace and fresh ocean air.

The menu has also been refreshed. Ben Jung, who has worked his way up through the kitchen to the role of head chef, is now working with group executive chef Adam Spencer on a simplified Mediterranean approach with a few Asian touches to bring it back to Australia.

It’s the sort of place that invites you to linger longer.

Book online, and you are invited to add on oysters to start for $8 each, on top of the two-course ($99) or three-course ($109) menu. I’d say, do it. You’re probably here to celebrate, so go for it – and Merimbula’s finest Sydney rocks, though small, are rewarding.

In fact, the additional snacks are all inviting, from the maple-glazed confit chicken wings paired with a lush, creamy gorgonzola mousse ($15 for three) to planks of crisp potato roesti ($12 each), roofed with glowing orange pearls of Yarra Valley salmon roe.

Hawkesbury calamari makes a pretty first course, lightly cooked on a hibachi and arranged with crisp coastal succulents, buttons of garlic confit cream and spidery trails of squid ink.

If there’s a signature dish, it’s the Moreton Bay bug spaghettini, a glossy twirl of excellent pasta coated with soft, sweet bug meat, cooked sous vide for four minutes, then warmed through in the sauce. It’s a clever dish that combines the comfort factor of pasta with the thrill of shellfish and XO chilli.

Going with the comfort zone, there is also steak frites, a decent-sized (350g) slab of Little Joe sirloin with a marble score of 4+, topped with melting bone marrow and parsley butter. It’s rested, with good grass-fed flavour, but there’s little crustiness or juiciness, perhaps because it is pan-roasted rather than coal-grilled.

That’s the second time I’ve been underwhelmed by Little Joe, which is one of the local brands of Great Southern Farms, owned by global food giant JBS. The chips are terrific: salty and dry.

The wine list is strong on shiraz, pinot and chardonnay, with a fresh, orchard-fruit 2023 Te Mata Estate chardonnay from Hawke’s Bay ($21/$95).

It’s the sort of place that invites you to linger longer, over a thick finger of light and yeasty rum baba and compressed pineapple piped with lime Chantilly creme, with jaunty little violas tucked in its lapels.

It’s also the sort of place in which pro staff will ask if you are celebrating or if you would like your photo taken – a ritual as much a part of harbourside dining as Sunday and public holiday surcharges.

To return to the concept of searching for “Sydney harbourside restaurants with a view”, it’s good to know this sparkling new incarnation of a 48-year-old diner releases 100 seats of prime Sydney real estate, lunch and dinner, every day. That should help supply meet demand.