Morrison’s Oyster Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Sydney

While some of Sydney spends May getting better acquainted with vegetables as part of an initiative called No Meat May, The Morrison Bar & Oyster Room is luring in confirmed carnivores with Pork-A-Palooza. Running until May 23, this month-long carnival of pig celebrates all that is superb about swine. It’s an all-budget affair that offers up plenty of different ways to get some Australian pork on your fork.

At the bottom end of the spend, there’s dollar dogs every Tuesday night between 6-7pm. The tasty hot dogs take a top-notch smoked pork snag and wrap it white bread that’s kept pillowy soft by cutting off the crusts. Drizzled with a super-creamy habanero mayo. it’s a gently spicy, three-bite eat that’ll leave you wanting more.

With Executive Chef Sean Connolly nominating bacon as his own personal panacea, it should be unsurprising to find the bar offering up a bacon-washed Bulleit Bourbon Hog Fashioned ($18). Flavoured with maple syrup and chocolate bitters, this enjoyable riff on the Old Fashioned is likely to cure all that ails you. Prosciutto-washed bourbon is slightly less evident in Don Melon Ham ($18), which takes on an orange tinge with Aperol and rockmelon. Amp up your bacon cure by slurping a couple of barside Oyster Kilpatrick ($5/each) before moving to a dining table for the rest of your porky feast.

While the special event menu offers up everything from pork burgers to pork schnitzel, each item has been given a special Sean Connolly twist. Connolly draws upon his English heritage for his Chilled Pigs Head Terrine ($24) accompanying the tasty pink slab with a sharp house-made piccalilli and buttered toast. While eyeing off the Double Bacon Chops ($36) cooked in a mushroom and crème fraiche ragout, we were lured into this experience on the promise of Suckling Pig ($360/half, $680/whole).

By whole or half, this is one experience you’ll need to share with friends, many friends; though it would be prudent to choose those who are comfortable knowing where their meat comes from. The slow cooked pig – massaged for tenderness then popped into the oven at lunchtime – is presented on a board that was bigger than our table for four. Our slightly nervous waiter – this is his first whole suckling pig – breaks it down at the table, starting with the head (which, by the way, contains some of the tastiest meat).

With Head Chef Martino Pulito watching on, he takes off the trotters, before being relieved of his duty as the chef makes short work of cutting up the rest of the body. Padded with super tender slabs of pork loin, the ribs are a great place to get started on your porcine feast. Along with roasted spuds and sweet onions, it’s accompanied by five different sauces running from a gentle habanero aioli to salsa verde, chimichurri and a more traditional apple sauce made using James Squire Orchard Crush Apple Cider. For me it's the aioli and the apple sauce all the way, though I did wish for something more spicy.

Meanwhile, Pulito keeps on chopping, and our second platter of pig arrives piled high with trotters and head. Punctuating pig with sips of 2015 Domaine De La Poultiere Tuffo Vouvray Sec Chenin Blanc ($73/bottle) we’re dedicated but defeated by the sheer amount of swine. My only complaint: the ears were the only place I saw proper crackling on this tender baby pig, and - for the price - the whole meal could do with some greens. However, what I was very happy about, was that the kitchen happily packed up the remainders, which fed us at home for another two amazing nights. While I make no pretence about still eating meat, I hate being wasteful with animal products.

With sharply puckered lips, I have to recommend the Lemon Tart Brulee ($14) as an excellent way to strip any remaining pork from your palate. Full of swine, Bruichladdich Classic Laddie Whiskey ($16/glass) and good cheer, I’m inclined to say it’s the best lemon tart in town. Happy...

I took my wife here for her birthday dinner. When booking there is a question (special occasion?) so I answered that it was my wife’s birthday dinner.

Service was slow to mostly empty tables and the maître d’hôtel was in heavy discussions with other waitstaff. I had to wave for a minute to get service. The waiter left with our food order but not the drink order, so I had to wave again to order some cocktails.

This time the maître d’hôtel took out order. My wife ordered two old fashioned drinks from the “house classics menu” the maître d’hôtel took the menu and was holding it so my wife could not point to the drinks we wanted. Two drinks appear at the table…I think there is something missing from this drink I say to the maître d’hôtel. She then says this is a classic old fashioned and we say we did not order that and say we ordered the old fashioned from the “house classics menu” she argues that we ordered a classic old fashioned. I say this is not an old fashioned anyway as it’s missing the sugar water and bitters, I say you did not make it or taste it so you don’t actually know what’s in it, then confirm that we did not order it so she says she will bring another drink that is the one we actually ordered.

How dare she argue that we ordered it! Why would we lie about what we ordered or what we actually wanted! What possible motive would we have? The bill arrives with all three drinks charged!! The ones we did not order. I cannot say anything or keep going on about the drinks and cause a scene as it’s my wife’s birthday dinner, of which no service staff even mentioned to us or sat us at a special table for the occasion (why even have the question in the booking if you are not going to do anything with the information? it just sets an expectation that is not going to be met). We left and went to Bar 1880 and were served the most delicious cocktails for the same price and with exceptional service not costing a cent more! Even with complimentary sparkling water rather than $12 per bottle as charged!

By the way, I had to use a different login to leave this review as I have already reviewed this establishment with my other login....

First impressions were solid, we were seated quickly and handed nice quality menus. The restaurant was energetic and had good vibes. It was easy to flag a waiter down and get our orders in, which arrived quickly.

Unfortunately, that’s where it all went downhill. The oysters were okay, 8/10 - fresh and tasty but I’ve had better for cheaper. The beef tongue had an interesting flavour profile, but it was tender and edible - 6/10. The steak was the worst steak I’ve ever had, despite being appropriately medium rare it was still chewy and dry (how is that even possible?!) - 1/10. The fries were crispy but over salted - 4/10. The lamb was bland, and the texture is best described as if cardboard and leather had a baby - 1/10. The beans were nice 8/10. The crab linguine was creamy but flavourless and unfortunately the crab was clearly not fresh, with a distinctive heavy fishy smell - 4/10.

The presentation of the food was nice though, made for a good photo.

Service after the food arrived was abysmal, sadly. We were a group of three asians, so perhaps there was some discrimination as other reviewers have alluded to. In any case - our empty water bottle sat with us for well over 45 minutes before I gave up and grabbed a fresh bottle myself. Our food sat half uneaten (as why would we torture ourselves like this) and cold in front of us for well over an hour before a waiter finally came to clear our table and hand us dessert menus. Not once were we asked how we found the food, which was sad because I would have preferred to be given the opportunity to provide this feedback privately than post it publicly.

If you look at my previous reviews, I have only ever given 5 stars as I prefer to focus on bringing giving deserving businesses a boost and quietly never return to those that are bad. However, I feel I have a duty to ensure those who have tastebuds make an informed decision before coming here!

If you like the vibes and are just coming for a drink or your sense of taste never came back after getting covid, this is the...