The first time I went to the cocktail bar at Rockpool Bar & Grill (not to be confused with Rockpool in Circular Quay) I was relatively impressed. The art deco building (built in 1936) is stunning with high ceilings and columns and the bar, located to the side of the main dining floor, makes you feel like you’re in 1950s Manhattan, right down to its cracked marble walls and old school leather chairs.

There’s a ridiculously large number of wine glasses hanging above the bar counter (2682, to be exact, lined in eight tiers), dark wood paneling and a quiet, intimate atmosphere that attracts the powerbrokers working in the area (almost everyone here wears suits).

Sitting at the counter with two friends who had been here before, we all ordered the Wagyu burger, onion rings and double-cooked chips and I also grabbed an Adonis cocktail to wash it down.

The Adonis is a classic cocktail you hardly ever see these days. The menu says it’s made from dry sherry, sweet vermouth and Angostura bitters (although it’s usually made with orange bitters) and the result is high octane and a little too rich for my liking. However, I am impressed with the burger, which is topped with bacon, gruyere cheese and pickle – in fact, it’s possibly the best (and most decadent) burger I’ve had in Sydney (although I am becoming addicted to the Grill’d burgers you can now find around Sydney).

Fast forward a month or so (at my age keeping track of time is becoming increasingly hard) and I go back to Rockpool Bar & Grill with the Amazonian Croatian, who I’ve lured here with tales of sophistication and onion rings.

It’s a Wednesday night and I confidently stride up to the bar, only to see all the stools full. Never mind – prepared and happy to stand at the bar, we look through the menu and order the rum and raisin sazerac for myself and the Fleming blazer for the Croatian from an unsmiling bartender who directs us to get a table.

Now, I wouldn’t say he was rude, and if this bar truly were in Manhattan (or if he looked under the pump) then the cold reception might even be expected, but …

Well, let’s just say it didn’t feel welcoming.

We find a table tucked away to the side (our appetite for onion rings subsiding) and the Croatian suggests that maybe, because they have table service here, I was pushing things by going directly to the bar. When she says this I then wonder if the bartender even took our order or if he was implying we needed to sit and wait for someone to take our order but, before long, a friendly hostess delivers our drinks.

On the downside, the sazerac is disappointing. In addition to the usual sazerac ingredients of cognac, Peychaud’s bitters (and sometimes Angostura as well) and an absinthe rinse, the Rockpool version also has St Lucian rum steeped with raisins and Pedro Ximenez sherry added to it. However, the rum and raisin flavours dominate the drink, to the point where the alchemy of the cognac, bitters and absinthe seem – in my humble opinion – sadly overwhelmed.

On the plus side, the Fleming blazer is great – made with Hennessey VSOP, Yellow Chartreuse, Lagavulin (an Islay single malt whisky), ginger and honey syrup, all of which is flamed with Peychaud’s bitters, this is aromatic to the point where it can knock you out and yet subtle and balanced. My only criticism is that a blazer is such a theatrical drink to make thanks to its use of flame (traditionally it even involves passing the flaming ingredients from one mixing glass to another) that it’s a pity we missed it from our table in exile.

In fact, the blazer almost redeems our experience of Rockpool’s bar – at least until, after failing to get the attention of a hostess and in want of water, I then hazard going to the bar. There, like a leper, I wait, and wait, and wait while the bartender looks at me before continuing with whatever he’s doing. Now, I have full respect for bartenders who have their hands full and have to deal with impatient customers – but this time I really do feel like I’m just being ignored. After a while I give up and slink back to the table where we finish our drinks and leave.

As such, I’m in two minds about this bar. I love the décor, the hostess was friendly, the burger and onion rings were heavenly and the blazer was beautifully made. But between the sazerac and the cold bar service I’m not in a rush to go back any time soon.

Rockpool Bar & Grill, 66 Hunter Street, Sydney. See the Rockpool bar website. Open Monday to Saturday.

View Larger Map

Now it’s your turn – how do you rate Rockpool bar?

Rockpool Bar & Grill - Sydney CBD, 3.0 out of 5 based on 4 ratings

 

No related posts.