banksii

choosing a restaurant inbarangaroois such a difficult task; everything looks so good! after walking up and down the restaurant strip a couple of times we decided on banksii! we were met by a charming manager and she explained the concept of the restaurant and the idea behind the name! as we guessed, it is named after sir joseph banks, the botanist; not the street artist as many people may presume! the fitout seems to relate to plants, or so we thought, with pendant lights dancing like blossoming flowers, and the kitchen area is housed behind smoky glass like an old fashioned greenhouse. hanging vines and plants add to the green atmosphere! decided to share three dishes as we were mildly hungry:-
1) the roasted and smoked beetroot salad, goats curd, pomegranate and walnut
2) the prawn and fennel bisque, balmain bug, prawn, pipis and mussels
3) mussels cooked in white vermouth, green olives, herb butter

the verdict: omg....all dishes were outstanding! possibly the favourite dish was the bisque which was so flavoursome and luckily came with bread to mop up every last bit of juice! the salad was the most visually stunning beetroot salad imaginable and the mussels were plump, juicy and memorable. will certainly return to try the rest of the menu. a perfect choice in a competitive environment!

banksii is situated atbarangaroowith waterfront view. i have yet to dine at the restaurant, however have enjoyed drinks there. look forward to trying out the food there soon.

pretty busy for a tuesday night dinner, by far one of the more popular places alongbarangarooon the night. we got a table outside with comfy cushions and relax decor with a floral garden feel. vermouth would not normally be my drink of choice, but since we're at a vermouth bar we all got the banksii aperitif rose vermouth. it was dry & crisp with a bitter citrus note but not unpleasant. of the food, they were good in general, but felt each was just bit short on being excellent. the creamed macadamia dip with sweet & sour currants, was a bit on the sweet side for me, couldn't taste any sour and just needed a hint of savoury to lift it. the salmon carpaccio was bit bland. the sticky beef soft ribs was soft & tender, but need more of the sticky sauce. the shaved zucchini was my favourite for the night, simple fresh & light. the desserts follow similar trend as the savouries. the honey parfait with lemon curd & honeycomb was surprisingly good, but it was hard to dig into the parfait itself & hard to get the earl grey syrup off the plate to eat with it. the bitter sweet choc mousse was really intense on it's own, but was good with the mandarin granita. overall an enjoyable night out.

best meal i had in december 2017 was at banksii – so good that i am happy to call it with a few days left to go in the month.

firstly, it’s at a great location on thebarangaroowater – that whole area is popping these days and i don’t like to use the word popping without a reference to corn.

secondly, i had the best red meat there that i think i’ve had in a long time: the sticky beef short rib with smoked carrot and pickled onion was just divine. the meat is so so so tender, and so delicious that you kind of lose yourself in it. it’s both sweet and salty and it’s actually also a very generous serving (1 between 2 people is sufficient if you also get sides). as my dining companion described it, the previous time she had the beef short rib at banksii with a group of people, the table went quiet as the rib just required their full attention. whilst it was a heavy dish, it wasn’t overly rich and i loved it with the roast cauliflower we got as a side.

to celebrate my friend coming back from overseas, we decided to go tobarangarooto show her around the new area. we settled with eating at banksii, and it's definitely a more high end experience than the sort of food i'm used to eating. we ordered quite a few dishes between the three of us, including a creamed macadamia dish and some chicken pate. the highlight was definitely the sticky beef rib as the main. the beef was tender, juicy and packed full of flavour. the cauliflower side was also delicious.

overall i think the place does some pretty good food, but it's a little more expensive than what you'd usually want to pay. $130 between the three of us is a little pricey for sure, so i'll be back in the future for a special occasion, but probably not otherwise.

named after the botanist joseph banks from the first fleet, banksii is a vermouth bar and bistro which offers an wide assortment of vermouth and dishes prepared using plant roots, leaves, herbs and flowers. the extensive use of fresh organic produce is commendable but there is no stand-out dishes or anything worthy. it makes me scratch my head, “why was this a hatted restaurant?”

the seafront bistro features a chic industrial interior with clean lines and a cozy dining area which spills into thebarangaroowalkway with broad open terraces.

i ordered to go-to-dish, broad beans with young peas and aged goat’s cheese. it tasted similar to the salad bowl from woolies or the poke bowl which you can find anywhere.

the grilled prawns, dunked in turmeric butter and curry leaves, were ridiculously oily and your mouth is soaked with butter oil. there was no sensational tantalising flavours of curry or turmeric and i could taste only the boring flavour of stale, rock hard prawns. come on!

likewise, the blue swimmer crab risotto, served with herbs, pecorino romano and roasted fennel, appears a dish from the hospital. tasteless, milky and soggy, the risotto lacks in texture, layers and flavours. this entire meal reminds me of claire’s in darlinghurst. probably the health conscious folks will like them but it is certainly not worth a single hat.

p.s. the vermouth saves the day 😃

excellent food and atmosphere. located on thebarangaroowharf, banksii is super popular. we came across it and decided to dine here because it was the busiest restaurant. very glad we did because it was excellent. the chicken pate was one of the best and the bread that accompanied it was absolutely amazing! the steak was pretty goddam good as well.

“those dandelions in the snapper are foraged and we ferment our own chillis.” angelica, our waitstaff told us, pointing towards the rows of jars on the shelf in the banksii restaurant, one of a few restaurants that have recently opened in barangaroo.barangaroohas become quite a food scene. i’ve seen the development ofbarangaroofrom the beginning, having heard endless drilling and cranes, gone through several fire drill (and one real fire) evacuations, as i worked in one of the neighbouring office blocks before moving into the international towers. it was hard to imagine at the time that it could become a village, a foodies village, where people would want to hang out. well now it is the latest hipster place in sydney to eat, drink and shop with david jones opening last week.barangaroois the new sydney.