Grasshopper!

Dinner in the kitchen @ Grasshopper open Monday – Friday lunch and dinner

Myself, plus one decided to brave the weather (I don’t think the sky got the memo that’s it’s November!) and headed out in search of a dodgy laneway. Temperance Lane to be precise. Yes, located between the R M Williams and Oakley stores on George Street is Grasshopper, a Melbourne style laneway bar that is one of Sydney’s bars of the moment.

Split into two sections, the bar and the restaurant, the only way of finding Grasshopper is by knowing where you’re going. You’re not really going to stumble across it accidentally. This adds to the appeal of Grasshopper, which has such a great vibe and is so different from other drinking holes in the heart of the city. Trashy bars or dingy pubs anyone? Not for this blogger. 

We decided to try out the bar section first, which by just a bit after 6pm when we arrive, was already completely packed. Not busy. But packed. You can tell that word of mouth spreads fast about new bars in Sydney. Although both the food menu and wine menu (by the glass) is quite limited, you can tell that they have carefully selected everything that appears on it. They also serve only one type of beer: Peroni. If you are a beer drinker and Peroni isn’t your thing, I might suggest heading elsewhere for an after work drink. We grabbed our glasses of wine, managed to quickly snap up a perch on a 70s style armchair and stool beneath a funky lampshade, and settled in to our black and white kung fu wall papered surrounds. 

Having only opened this year, Grasshopper has some great quirky touches like serving table water and cocktails in jam jars. There are old records as coasters, book-like menus and playing cards as business cards. These all combine to make Grasshopper an interesting drinking venue. Finally Sydney is getting some places with some character!

After our wine, we decide to head on up to the restaurant area. I was excited by the idea of the eating area that is essentially a large slab of stone on which you’re seated on one side, with the kitchen on the other. It’s an open kitchen, so we can happily chat away to the Head chef Richard Duff as we eat. We can see absolutely everything going on in the kitchen. I'm not sure how the chefs feel about being so watched. Richard explains every meal that we’ve been served, sometimes handing the meals straight to us, answering our questions, of um… “what’s that?” I’ve never eaten in such close proximity to the chef that has made my food before. We got to watch our soufflé rise in the oven, our herbs being expertly cut and the tempers sometimes rising in the kitchen (in a controlled way). I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun. You can't get this on tv. We were part of the action. It’s such a small kitchen (as the entire place is tiny), but so smoothly run.

The menu... hmm. I want it all!

From the specials board we ordered the grilled asparagus, balsamic vinegar reduction with parmasan cheese so share. The asparagus was amazingly grilled to perfection and served in such a simple but delicious way. 

Grilled asparagus with balsamic reduction and shaved parmasan

For my main I ordered the salmon with peas and broad beans, which was grilled and lightly smoked. This was perfection. The right sized portion, plated well and the Salmon wasn’t too overpowered by the other flavours on my plate. You were left with the feeling of having just eaten food that was not only tasty, but also good for you. This doesn't happen often in restaurants. It was just all so fresh.

Grilled salmon with peas

Plus one had the Steak au Poivre. Again: cooked perfectly. It was an extremely tender pepper crusted steak. The side of a hashbrowns with bone marrow in it (as strange as it sounds) was also extremely delicious. This side being one of our “what’s this” questions, which our chef was only too happy to answer. 

Steak au Poivre

It’s quite lucky that we didn’t have anything negative to say, as I feel that it wouldn’t have gone down too well (even if it had been whispered between the two of us, as I think he may have heard!) Our position also lead us to food envy, as every plate that zoomed past our noses had us perving on it. A habit of mine that I really must give up, but all the meals looked amazing. I just couldn't help myself. The prawn cocktail (quite different to how it sounds) is on my list for the next visit. Watching those prawns being grilled and then garnished had me drooling. We also watched quite a few of the raspberry soufflé’s rise in front of our eyes from inside the oven and then walk past our noses. We just had to have one of these. The soufflé, also from the specials board, was light and fluffy, as they should be, and had a great fresh raspberry coulee to serve with it. We demolished it in what felt like seconds.

Before the top is taken off

After the top has been taken off and the raspberry coulee has been poured on.

Is Grasshopper a place I would visit again? For sure! Miss Feathers is already planning her return visit. It didn't win best small bar this year for nothing! Richard told us that we just had to try the cheese plate on our next visit, as he began cutting them up, and I wouldn't want to make the chef angry!