Born by Tapavino — Restaurant in Sydney

We first visited their flagship bar/restaurant - Bar Tapavino which quickly became one of our favourite restaurants. Not long after, they opened another standout - Balcon, which we also greatly loved. This restaurant group have since opened a relatively new addition, situated in Barangaroo, called Born. This restaurant group has a simple recipe for running and it works well - their drinks have a focus on wine and sherry, sprinkle in some great food, as well as a high standard of service.

We visited Born by Tapavino to round out the trifecta of our visits to the restaurants in the Tapavino range, and we had heard great things about it. This restaurant has a beautiful setting by the water at Barangaroo and with an alfresco dining space as well, it makes for an ideal place to visit for a wine accompanied lunch, afternoon drinks or an evening dining experience.

Drinks wise, at this sort of establishment, we are comfortable to leave it with the staff and you will not be disappointed. The sommeliers do a great job of picking drinks to your preference and matching it with the food you have ordered. Amandine recommended a beautiful red wine which was superb and matched the food incredibly well. One of us was driving on this occasion, and we left it in the bartenders hands to concoct a delicious mocktail.

The tapas (individual bites) had us salivating when trying to decide. We rested on the balmain bug and prawn sliders. The sliders did a good David Copperfield impersenation, they vanished soon after arriving at the table.

The highlight of the tapas experience were some manchego churros are were a revelation. Some soft fried dough topped with the smoked chorizo mayo, so good they should bottle it. Whilst the regular dessert churros have always been good, savoury ones now have our vote. We could have eaten a bucket.

Moving on to primera, these dishes are a larger and great for sharing. We couldn't visit and not try the warm cow's milk cheese wrapped in jamon serrano which is served with truffled honeycomb. This dish is heaven on a plate, if sharing you will do battle for your share.

The mains also great for sharing. The lamb rump was perfectly prepared, sauced with chimichurri to cut through the richness of the meat. This was served with papas fritas tiny fried potato battons, which provided some crunch to the dish and the smoked paprika taking this dish to another level. Paired this with a nice glass of red suggested by the sommelier, Perfecto!

You will need to save room for dessert, as it is a highlight, better yet, just channel the dessert stomach. So many amazing options, the bunuelo (spanish doughnuts) doughnuts must be selected to put a bigger smile on your dial. The dessert special for the evening - a dulche de leche and dark chocolate ganache tart was spectacularly decedent. The chololate and mixed nuts with peanut butter caramel and also the arroz con leche helado, this is a classy Spanish ice cream sandwich and was a clear standout. Make sure this is paired with one of the amazing sherries on offer, the pairing takes this dessert to out of this world good.

Born by Tapavino, is one of our favourite venues for 2017. Great food, drink and service. What else does one...

My wife and I were visiting Sydney for the first time and were doing some exploring in the Barangaroo area when we came across the restaurant. It was our last day and we just wanted to kill some time before heading off to the airport and what better way than relaxing near the docks with great food and wine. Upon arriving however, we immediately felt unwelcome by the staff. Perhaps we were not dressed for the occasion as everyone around us were in business casual attire, but it wasn’t as if we walked up in ripped jeans and a singlet either. It was late in the day, just before 3:30, and the restaurant was not busy so the lack of customer service could not be excused due to a busy period. We were seated and Jason came to the table, another staff member yet again making us feel unimportant. As the wine menu was pretty confusing, we looked to our waiter for assistance which he gave halfheartedly and practically laughed at us for our taste in wine as we asked for a Riesling. Given that the wine list featured mostly Spanish varieties, which we didn’t know until after being judged, this would’ve been the perfect time for Jason or another staff member to step in and educate us in less degrading way but that didn’t happen. Instead we were given a wine to taste, not explained what were tasting, and we just decided to go with it because we felt like such an inconvenience already. When it came to ordering food, we decided to go with the lamb but we felt pressured to order more. Thankfully the food was amazing, but we didn’t get a chance to tell anyone that because no one checked on us the entire time. Both water glasses remained empty until the very last minute before the bill came which was given to us by Lucia who was probably the friendliest staff member there.

I want to stress that we are not high maintenance people what so ever and we are generally very sympathetic to other wait staff because we also work in hospitality and we have an understanding of the pressure you can be under during service. However, what we experienced was poor and felt discriminatory because we did not look a certain part. I personally work in fine dining and am very familiar with the high standard of service you’re expected to give guests and how we were treated today was unacceptable. This was our first and last time visiting the restaurant. Hopefully moving forward, no other guests experience this...

My wife went and asked one of the guys if they have chocolate milkshake. The guy replied, why did you come here? You came from the Indian restaurant? We don’t have takeaway cups. Basically, the guys treated my wife as if she was begging for a free chocolate milkshake.

He could have simply said if you are not dining with us, we unfortunately cannot serve you any food or drink.

Don’t know the guy’s name. He is tall, bald, wears glasses and would be in his 40s or at least late 30s. Super rude and certainly racist. Guys like him give Aussies a bad name. He doesn’t belong to a civilised society let alone serving customers.

Giving one star because when I went and explained the incident to another staff, he was very kind and told us that he would have a word with the racist guy (not sure if he will actually have a word) but hoping he does. Posting an online review hoping that the racist guy actually gets educated by the restaurant manager or the owner. Lastly when, we were complaining to another staff, the racist guys was just there and he was not apologetic at all.

Note: The reason I am constantly calling him racist is because of his attitude towards my wife and assuming the we were dining at the Indian restaurant. We were dining at Belles.

Edited The Comment from here as a response to your (Frank’s) comment:

There are few other foods and drinks places in close proximity to Born by Tapavino restaurant in Barangaroo. Assumption was certainly not solely based on proximity of the Indian restaurant (which I circled in red in the picture). Hence, it begs the question why such assumption was made.

Definition of racist - characterized by or showing PREJUDICE, discrimination, or antagonism against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group.

Capitalised prejudice as that’s what it was. It can also be described as bias of profiling. Tone and attitude further adds to my conclusion of identifying him as racist.

The server’s conduct reflects discriminatory prejudice based on perceived ethnicity, which can amount to racial profiling under...