Balcon by Tapavino — Restaurant in Sydney

Balcon's menu and wine selection is as complex and provocative as is the history of Spanish Cuisine. From invasions of the Roman Empire to conquests and modified traditions of the Iberian Peninsula, the curated menu of fine dining here is a melting pot of all regions with a playful salute to the usually separated regional and coastal dishes of classic Spain cooking.

The Balcon experience of sophistication is pronounced upon entering the establishment with a versatile ambiance hosting groups, intimate encounters, corporates with service and culinary standards matching the high expectations set, before you have even bean seated.

A staple of Spanish dining is of course, Wine and is one of the core centrepieces here. The wine list presented on arrival is approximately 50 times the size of the actual food menu offering over 400 types of wines from all regions of Spain. This is the perfect destination for the wine lover as much of the cellar is open to guests as its built into the interior design of the elegant restaurant space and open kitchen bar layout. There are also ocassionally on-site wine tastings.

Tapas and Cheese platters are also prominent and the dinner menu - an extension of this - with its decadent main course share plates, capture the essence of communalism in the Spanish eating experience. We had the BRAISED LAMB SHOULDER with honey wine and olive puree – one of the most delicately cooked, tender pieces of prime cut meat I've had in a long time. It crumbled when lightly running the knife along the grain. This dish represents the level of supreme culinary technique, paying homage to the land in which these ingredients – lamb, oil, honey and wine have fed generations of the region back to ancient times! Absolutely stunning dish and highly recommended.

The accompaniments chosen for this meal centred around my dining companion's obsession with cheese. A potato side dish of BAKED COWS MILK CHEESE and snowflake dustings of shaved mushrooms presented in a deliberate volcanic eruption of art. The Cauliflower features cheese from the areas of Spain influenced by the surrounding Mediterranean and cooked as such using shards of MAHON CHEESE and cracked black pepper.

This meal, the service (thanks Ella and Riz) and the myriad of possible meal/side/wine combinations are so cleverly designed with such breathtaking and exquisite execution! This place is definitely the hottest place in...

It seems to me that the service at this restaurant has been a problem for some time and my experience as I imagined was not an isolated event.

We had a waitress that literally had her 2 cents in everything. Commenting on how many drinks we ordered, insisting we ordered too much food in a rude and condescending manner. Altering orders when not given any instructions too.

The food was ok besides one dish which was so salty it was inedible.

This restaurant is pricy and presents itself as a fine dining calibre. This is what they are attempting to go for. When I pay this kind of money for dinner, I expect a level of class and professionalism to go with that. The food is one thing (nothing super special btw) however the complete dining experience means so much more. If you intend to charge top dollar to dine at your restaurant, a high level of service and respect towards your customers must be an accompaniment with that.

It seems the staff are high strung, on edge and just plain not happy people. It could be a reflection of the culture and management of the restaurant. Horrible and uncomfortable experience. The waitress we had should not be working in hospitality or have anything to do with the customer service sector. Mind blowing what I witnessed. You would think that post lockdown the level of customer service would be of utmost importance. Most certainly won't be coming back here.

Response - Thank you Frank for your response. As I presumed, our experience could of been a projection of something more troublesome within this restaurant and your response does prove my point further unfortunately, which is sad to hear. I will not argue any of the points I have already made, because you are obviously unarmed and lack wit in your response. All I will say is that I do not write negative reviews and would of been happy to write a positive one should my experience reflected this way. Unfortunately it was very much the opposite. Hopefully this will work more constructively to better the way you conduct yourself and those who are employed under...

A wonderful restaurant that is located just behind the Sofitel Wentworth. Having visited Tapavino previously and loved the food at that restaurant, we were really looking forward to this dining experience.

Offering a variety of Spanish tapas dishes covering light snack like dishes to heavy meatier plates to share. There is quite a choice so there is something for everyone. The wine list is extensive and we were told by the waiter that they had at least 5000 bottles in stock. Now that's quite a selection. The wine list was more like a wine encyclopaedia.

We started off with Jamon Serrano, Chickpea Panissa, Goats Curd. The jamon was plentiful (lucky we love it!) and the panissa (chickpea fritters) provided a lovely crunch to the dish.

Our food journey continued onto Baked Cows Milk Cheese, Salt Baked Potato, Shaved Mushroom. The cheese was oozy and so creamy. The potato was a nice vehicle for the toppings. Mushrooms added a nice accent and flavour.

The Braised Lamb Shoulder, Honey Wine, Olives was melt in the mouth. There was a smoky purée that accompanied it and delicious.

Salt Baked Beetroot, Raw Beets, Walnut Cream had a wonderful crunch from the raw beets and the the cooked beetroot was sweet and went so well with the lamb. The cream gave it a contrast and made it more savoury.

We finished on a high note of 'Balcon Mess'. This was a creation of white chocolate & thyme cream, strawberry, oat croquante, and meringue. This was their Spanish take on the traditional Eton Mess. The highlights of the dish were the croquante which was reminiscent of an excellent Anzac biscuit (most likely due to the oats and syrup taste to it) and the meringues were light and crunchy especially the thin white one which had a sweet herbal taste to it.

The service was lovely and the waiter helped us guide us through the...