I recommend this...

Manly Wharf Hotel

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

During the day the Manly Wharf Hotel is a peaceful affair. Ladies lunch inside, enjoying the clean, white, Miami Beach-chic decor, and passers-by break their strolls for a drink on the deck, surrounded by boats and sweeping views of this well-preserved stretch of harbour. At night things heat up with patrons spilling out along the wharf, lovely young things legging into the cocktail lounge to see and be seen, and waiters sailing through the busy tables in the restaurant where diners await confident, contemporary fare befitting the smart, mod-pub ambience.

James Watson's cooking is well matched to the breezy, waterside surrounds. There's a distinct emphasis on seafood and dishes are graced with well-balanced Mediterranean flavours. Servings are generous, so start with something light like the multicoloured salad of beetroot, baby beans, goat's cheese, Seville orange and walnuts, or grilled scallops with putanesca butter and baby leaf salad. For mains, the steak is a gastro-pub's dream, a chargrilled Black Angus Scotch fillet with horseradish and potato gratin, broccollini and bordelaise sauce. If you can't pass up the seafood, opt for the roasted ocean trout on prawn colcannon with crab, thyme and riesling sauce. Manly Wharf Hotel still offers one of Sydney's most sophisticated pub meals, and with views to match and an ultra-lively bar it's a very tempting proposal for a big night out.

 

Fiona Davies, July 2006