14.5/20How we score
Contemporary$$$$
To visit The Waratah and not order cocktails would be like watchingWest Side Story with the sound off. You can still have a perfectly fine time,but you’ll be missing out on the best part.
You’ll be missing out on co-owner Evan Stroeve’s regularly changing drinks,like a deliciously sharp Mai Tai starring passionfruit,rum and house-made cherry-pit liqueur.
Across a smart,jade-tiled street-facing bar and tiny dining room upstairs,Australian ingredients inform both booze and food. We’re talking butterflied prawns glossed with lemon-myrtle butter;rock oysters splashed with rosella mignonette;and scallops (the potato kind) seasoned in a koji marinade and topped with diced scallop (the seafood kind).
Juicy bronze-skinned chicken is a highlight,cooked under a brick and scattered with a crunch of saltbush leaves. Hold the wine and pair it with a rum,pineapple and skin-contact chardonnay sharpener instead.
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Poised dining downstairs,cocktail party on top.
Fine diner where vegetables are in the spotlight.
Cosy diner serving bang-for-buck sushi and small plates.
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