Nick’s Bar & Grill
“That’s the damnedest thing I ever saw… it seemed to swoop down at you deliberately.” If I hadn’t seen Hitchcock’s 1963 movie The Birds, I’d swear seagulls were getting smarter. Yes, I’m starting a review with birdlife again, but their ingenuity stood out at this popular 550-seater. Like the gulls, Nick’s Restaurant Group owns most of the prime waterfront real estate in the Darling Harbour basin. This one combines the seafood elements from Nick’s Seafood Restaurant; with the steaks from I’m Angus – sometimes even on the same plate as per Australia’s perennial favourite: surf and turf. Fillet Steak and Prawns ($45) offers a juicy steak, a pair of king prawns, chips, asparagus spears and a side of hollandaise that probably goes better with my Grilled John Dory Fillets ($42). Most families, unless they’re keen on a birthday picture with a seafood platter, start their meal with Oysters ($24/6). They’re accompanied by bread and butter, the usual vinaigrette, and – in what might be a gesture to accessibility – cocktail sauce. Plump Scallops ($21) grilled on the half-shell with citrus caramel seem too sweet to me, until I get stuck into my Evans & Tate ‘Metricup Road’ Chardonnay ($60/bottle); and watch countless kiddies consume their fish and chips with real relish.
Nick’s Bar & Grill
The Promenade, King Street Wharf, Sydney
Ph: (1300) 989 989 nicksbarandgrill.com.au
Seafood, Steakhouse $$$-$$$$
