Poly — Restaurant in Sydney

Poly is the sister restaurant of Ester, Chippendale. Both restaurants are high on our list of Sydney favourites. Poly is located in a great spot on the border of Surry Hills and the Southern end of the CBD. You will find it in a large converted industrial space part of the Paramount site on Commonwealth Street. The restaurant's bar is large and very prominent, which could give play to Poly's vision to be a bar, which also serves food. Although the kitchen is small, they utilise the space well and the food is superb, making this an all round top dining experience. There are many different table configurations, great for groups, our favourite tables are by the kitchen and the mesmerising wood fire.
The cooking is rustic refined woodfire, all cooked over open flame, with cooking racks above at different levels to allow for different temperatures and multiple dishes to be cooked at the same time, all whilst absorbing flavour from the charred wood below.
We love that this restaurant group make their bread fresh and there are a number of options on the menu that feature the freshly made bread. There is the sourdough roll with whipped butter and parsley oil. The roll has a bit of weight to it, when you pick it up from the plate, however the texture is light and fluffy.
Our favourite was the anchovy bread, simple and delicious with a heavy hit of lemon, the rind boosting the flavour, the anchovy flavour only light and hanging in the background. The Nduja and honeycomb toast was a good combination of sweet, savoury and spice. The soft house made bread is toasted and topped with Nduja, spreadable spicy Italian pork salami and to finish spoon of fresh honeycomb.
We also ordered some small bites to share, the beef tartare was brilliant, one of the better in Sydney, nicely seasoned and plenty of flavour from pickled mushroom, dill pickle and the fermented hot sauce takes it to another level.
The butterflied prawns that are famous at Ester, also made an appearance. They hit our table and are perfectly cooked, the meat of the prawn peeling away from the shell with ease.
The Koji Marinated beef intercostal, succulent slightly fatty beef which carries the sweet marinade and horseradish, the beef cubed and cooked on skewers over the fire. This dish was mouthwatering and kept us going back for more.
For a main we ordered the whole dory fish, baked over the fire with scales on, this nicely steaming the fish inside. The fish cooked in a rustic smokey tomato sauce taking on the flavour of the fish as it cooked over the flames. This dish certainly grabbed our attention when it arrived at the table the scales cracking and peeling of with ease, as did the flesh inside. This was enjoyed with a side of cos lettuce and broccoli shoots.
We finished the meal with a top dessert, also quite rustic to look at. The sticky date doughnut, a crisp outer crust soft dough inside, the sticky date sauce soaked up by doughnut and a topped with a thick vanilla cream that melts into the sauce and doughnut.
The larger space of Poly gives a different feel to the cosy Ester restaurant. We enjoyed the whole experience, our waiter very good with explaining the food and helping choose wine, which was excellent, we really enjoyed the Barberra from the Yarra, Vic, a heavy ballsy red, that had long lasting flavour. The cocktails were also superb. We also enjoyed the atmosphere, it was easy to enjoy a conversation and the food all cooked to a high standard, which takes skill, especially when cooking over an open flame. This is our kind of food, a must dining experience and a return definitely...

In the latest instalment of casual dining that defines Sydney is Poly. Mat Lindsay's new project is called a snack bar and viewing the simplicity of the kitchen, with a fire place, grills stacked on bricks, you may expect some simple camp fire cooking. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Crispy spiced fried onion and camp bread with salted cod and parsley dip seem simple and are also delicious. And what a joy to be able to drop in for a snack and have some exceptional vino. You can also dig in, get the more substantial dishes and throw down on some exceptional wines too. We did both.

The crispy onion is crunchy squiggles, lightly dusted in flour and spice and perfect at causing salivation. An intense parsley hit from the oil with the cod dip will fill a small empty spot in your stomach, the bread is kind like a damper and cooked over the open flame. Our first bottle was a tasty Chenin Blanc from Loire France, a scrumptious wine, far more complex than the price suggests.

Bbq pipies are becoming a new fav of mine, good spice hit as well as a distinct lemon myrtle flavour. The bowl is not huge so they still qualify as a snack. The duck cigar tho is too big for one person and a delightful parmesan custard is great for dunking. The gnudi pillows of ricotta pasta is a must, sublte yet rich and six of these bad boys are great to share. We moved to a Amphros Daphne green wine, another unusual and delicious number. I have never seen green wine anywhere except Potugal and this one is well worth a sample.

More serious food is the beef rib. I'll call it, best in Sydney. This bad boy is cooked in a pot on coals and the finished over fire. It melts in your mouth. A perfect pair with the celery Caesar salad, wow, sexy celery, i've never had it so good. At this stage i was enthralled in the wine list so we had a Bornard Ploussard and then a Boudy Poulsard, these light flavoursome French reds will go with anything on the menu and you pay for that privilege!

Cheese and lettuce cups work so well especially when paired with the poor mans orange marmalade. Queen of puddings is a dense bowl of pudding goodness with burnt tips of meringue and sublime churros are also available.

Mat Lindsay has transitioned from wood oven at Ester to open bbq coal with ease. The relaxed vibe in the open room with impeccable service and a well balanced fat sound system has me hooked. Another chilled spot with incredible food and wine with options that will have me running back on the regular..... I just need to cool my jets on the big money...

Definitely fell short of expectations coming from the Ester team in our opinion. Food was nothing out of the ordinary. Service was subpar.

We tried the following: 🦪Sydney Rock Oyster, Sunrise Lime ($7 each) - oysters were fresh, creamy but carried a bitter aftertaste (perhaps from the lime?) 🍞Fermented Potato Bread, Whipped Sesame ($12 each) - amazing fragrance of garlic butter/oil, smeared all over. The bread itself was a little too wet and dense inside. The whipped sesame was great especially with the combination of the parsley oil - quite similar to hummus. 🥔Fried Potato, Salted Egg Yolk, Chives ($16) - an amazing hash brown with sour cream is how I’d describe it. The salted egg yolk in our opinion was purely aesthetics and did nothing to the dish at all. It was great but again, nothing more than a well cooked hash brown. 🥬Roasted Hispi Cabbage Caesar ($24) - decent, tart but wished it had more char (personal preference). 🐟Grilled Flathead Fillet, Native Spices, Pil Pil ($50) - perhaps our favourite dish of the night and the only one that stood out. Fish was cooked to perfection, had great char and the sauce was amazing. Creamy, umami and balanced out with the nuttiness from the brown butter (?). Fish was seasoned well with the exception that some parts were over salted. 🦆Twice Cooked Maremma Duck Breast, Plum Sauce ($60) - decent, loved the jus, the duck visually was cooked perfectly and did not have any gaminess at all but was a little chewy. Plum sauce was a hate it or love it type of sauce as it had quite a lot of strong herbs added (star anise, cinnamon?? - could be wrong).

Service was meh - we were served and seated by a friendly staff but our empty bottle of water was never once replenished throughout the service. We weren’t informed of any specials which we found out towards the end of our meal. Would also recommend that the management provide the option of selecting to sit at the bar or a table during the reservation process (like Ester and pretty much every other restaurant with a bar option). There’s nothing worse than booking a month ahead and ending up at a bar.

Would not return...