sixpenny

sixpenny is a wonderful, though on the pricier side, modern australian restaurant. we ordered their autumn tastingmenuwhich consisted of four courses. we started with their tasters, all three of them were fresh and had unique flavours to them. our personal favourite dishes of the night were the 2 week aged lamb with fennel and the mackerel. the aged lamb was cooked beautifully and their pumpkin pureé complemented the dish extremely well. we also loved their mackerel. the skin was crispy, their complementing sauce was light and sweet and there was just enough sauce for the whole dish. staff were extremely accommodating - refilling our glasses whenever needed and we especially appreciated how the dishes were brought out and the components were explained by the chefs themselves. overall, we had a very pleasant dining experience at sixpenny and would not hesitate to visit again!

...sixpenny has quickly become one of the hottest diners in the inner-west thanks to chefs daniel puskas and james parry who have collectively done time at everywhere from sepia and tetsuya’s to noma and alinea. sixpenny took a hat from the herald almost as soon as it opened and a strong 4 out of 5 from the weekend australian magazine’s jonathan lethlean – who for my money is best working restaurant critic in the country. and i would attribute this in no small part to an all-degustationmenuthat, like churchill’s aphorism, is not afraid to stand up for something, even

wasn't sure what to expect of this place as it was a first time visit with a friend who lives locally but was pleasantly surprised. a degustationmenuwith either 6 or 8 courses. we chose the 8 course menu. it's a bit heavy on the seafood but go on the journey with an open mind and you will be richly rewarded. the flavours had beautiful contrast from dish to dish and were surprisingly complex. but the highlight of the meal would have to be the chuck tail. it was brilliant. definitely coming back with the family next time!

service was exemplary and we were taken such good care of.
food was good, however it was heavily influenced by various seafood. having had similar experience at seibo, i had specifically asked to temper their menu. however, that request was overlooked and it ended up in me having a rather unpleasant confrontation with two of the five main courses! starters and desserts were really good and innovative. drinksmenuis exhaustive. i am going for 3 stars much against my wishes but that should be motivation enough for improvising.

of course we picked sixpenny based on the smh 3 hat rating. so that tends to raise expectations.

letting ourselves in, we were greeted and shown our table. the room is pared back and mercifully quiet, unlike a lot of sydney places.

so the 7 coursemenufrankly had some low spots. the fish was lost in the peas, the beef was frankly not tender and cheese overpowered a
couple of the other courses.

on the whole the food is conservatively presented and the taste is fine without being exceptional.

the final bill with 8-10 drinks between four was $860.

you may not expect a restaurant of the year and fine diner like sixpenny in sleepy suburban stanmore & the surprise does not end at the door. walking into this modern, minimalist yet inviting space you feel immediately welcome & warm. every single member of the staff are professional yet friendly with the right amount of humour, chattiness, professionalism and knowledge. the wine list offers some familiar and lots of interesting drinks and each recommendation and description was spot on. so definitely trust the sommeliers and staff on the wine front. and the food is no exception - simple, elegant, clean, packed with flavour yet so refined and beautiful. you can choose between the 6 or 8 course degustation although from 2019 there will be only onemenuof 7 courses. the kitchen staff bring the dishes to your table and it is a lovely concept and being able to see and speak to the people behind the beautiful food. the 3 amuse bouche definitely awakens the palate and is light and tasty especially the cheese gougeres which i would happy to eat more of! the stand out dishes for me was the venison tartare, swordfish which i am not usually a fan of as it is often tough and overcooked, but here it is tender & sweet. the pork belly was superb with the skin akin to breaking the top of a creme brulee. then the beef... so tender, full of umami flavour & the sticky, port like jus was perfect. dessert looks simple but dont let that deceive you. its creamy yet refreshing and not heavy. the white chocolate dessert with poor man's orange particularly good especially the caramelised white chocolate. a wonderful, special restaurant that is well rounded with service, ambience and food.

tbh, this restaurant is amazing. i really can’t fault it. i loved everything about it. it’s a small cosy dim lit restaurant that is perfect for a date night out. i just want to start off with how amazing the customer service is. the wait staff are very polite and knowledgeable and seem very passionate about the food being served.

i decided to go with the 8 coursemenufor $155 dollars per person. very standard price for a dine dining place. i do think that this place was worth every penny. the food here is amazing and definitely worth the visit.

first thing first, the appetisers. like always, three appetisers were placed on the table. pickled apple with rose geranium. i think originally it was supposed to be pickled cucumber but i’m not a huge fan of cucumber so they changed it to apple. the apple had a sour hit to it and was a delight to eat. next i had the green tomato and cheese gougeres. yummmmm!!! the cheese melts in your mouth, it was so delicious, i could eat another 10! the waiter recommend that i ate the pumpkin scallop last because it was still hot! and boy was it hot. it was like a donut with pumpkin inside. the batter was crunchy and oily, in a good way tho, and the pumpkin inside was gooey and sweet. definitely warmed my heart. a great start!

anything with crab and i’m down! the presentation doesn’t give away much but the next dish was hand picked spanner crab with clam butter and yarra valley salmon roe. it was like a like a little treasure hunt. if you keep digging you’ll find the gold, in this case, the spanner crab. i loved the crab it was tender and the roe gave it a nice hit of salt. such a cleaver little dish!

i love venison and i love a good tartare, so the next dish was made for me. the venison tartare with artichoke and cheese was scrumptious. i liked the gamey and musky flavour of the venison against the cheese. it was definitely a stand out dish for me.

in highschool, we had something called scallop potatos and the next dish reminded me so much of that. confit potato with oyster and raw mushrooms. if i read it on the menu, i wouldn’t appeal to me as much. only because where’s the damn protein?? but let me tell you all something, forget the protein, this dish was sooooo good. the potatoes was in a cream soft texture and full of flavour. to be honest, if you hate mushroom, this dish will make you love mushrooms. the mushrooms were so light and worked so well with this potato. really got me salivating for more.

they served me to kinds of bread, one of them was a unique coffee flavoured bread which i really enjoyed! i’ve never had coffee flavoured bread!

first seafood dish of the night, the swordfish with green chard and salted red cabbage. loved this dish. let me start by saying that the presentation of this dish was quite interesting. it had foam surrounding the whole dish. reminded me a lot of the foam in the sea. on to the fish, the fish was cooked perfectly. it was flakey and tender and everything a beautifully cooked fish should be. dig a little deeper, and there was the salted red cabbage which tied together the whole dish.

the winner of the best dish of the night goes to this beauty, the ranger valley chuck tail with mushroom and masala. yummmmmmmmm! the meat just was sooooo good. i can’t explain how juicy and tender this was and the sauce went perfectly with the beef. it was cooked to perfection and i wish i had maybe another 10 of those. it was also paired with a beautifully dressed salad.

by this time, i was soo full. on to desserts. i received a nice palate cleanser, mead vinegar custard with frozen raspberry and strawberry consommé. it was nice and refreshing. i liked the combination of the custard and the tastiness of the raspberry and strawberries. next i had the white chocolate with caramelised white chocolate and poor man’s orange. very delicious especially the contract between the orange and the caramelised white chocolate. last but not least, the cocoa ice cream with chocolate caramel and puffed buckwheat. this was definitely more of a richer and sweater dessert, nonetheless, it was a delight to eat.

overall, i really enjoyed my experienced here. the food was to die and i would love to come back! :) if you love fine dining then you would definitely enjoy this place.

the good - excellent service, and was nice to have the chef of each dish bring it out. quite and cozy environment. were able to accomodate vegetarian requirements.

the bad - pretty basic food, nothing was really creative (especially for the price, many other good tastingmenuoptions out there). the dishes were not so tasty that you would want to come back for more. the desert was too sweet for my liking.

for my extensive experience in fine dining, i have to give sixpenny a 10/10. love everything from decor, food to services.

the waiting staffs are experienced and their attention to details are great. themenucan be chosen between six or eight courses, the price difference is not significant. we go for the six course as we went at lunch, hence prefer something lighter. my favourite would be the chuck tail, pumpkin scallop, the potato and last but not least the frozen raspberries with custard.

the chuck tail is an unusual part for beef, but nice and tender, highlight is the mushroom jus (thick but light in flavours) and the caramelised onion. pumpkin scallop reminds me on the chinese fried with congee, but really nicely done. the potato is another highlight, cooked in butter with the garnish of zucchini flower and kale. (potato might seem like an easy ingredient to cook, however it is extremely hard to make it a standout dish) love the raspberry in frozen form with the smooth custard, they compliment each other so well.

sixpenny has officially make one of my top 5 fine dining list in australia. hopefully i will be able to see it to make the world’s top 100 list in the future.

our restaurant this week is listed as one of the top restaurants in australia located in a very quiet street in stanmore, sydney. they have held two hats status for as long as i can remember. their chef, daniel puskas, is the chef of the year in this year’s good food guide. sixpenny only has two degustation menu: 6 courses and 8 courses. they also cater for children with a 2-coursemenufor $65 on some days – we actually got 3 for our little one as he really wanted our dessert. as usual, the dining starts with warm bread and butter. halfway through the service, they gave us a different kind of bread (but not pictured here).

food: we tried the 8 course degustationmenuwhich was very filling and satisfying. nothing too mind-blowing, but quality food. complementary small entrees in the beginning and sourdough was a nice touch as well.

service: high standard, with each chef coming out and explaining what their own dish was made of (i assume). wait staff friendly and accommodating (esp the tall guy) 

ambience: yes like what others have mentioned, it did feel like eating inside someone's house. but that's a-ok because it felt different for once.

what a gourmet food experience we had here again! we celebrated my birthday last year and we loved it. so we came back here last month with friends. professional but casual approach by wait persons made us feel so comfortable. yet, each course we had in it's degustationmenuwas beautiful to look at first and fantastic in our mouths. strongly recommendable.

this one is definitely a hidden gem in stanmore! best dish is the salmon roe and crab entry; second being the black angus beef and third being the roasted potatoes!! it is a six degustationmenuand we have truly enjoyed.

we came here for a saturday lunch & opted for the smaller menu.

this place is beautiful. the decor is so simple and classy. the wait staff so friendly and helpful.

the food here is next level. within every dish, it shines through what care was taken to create it. so much technique used to create flavours and textures we haven't experienced before.

the entiremenublew us away, it was too tough to pick a favourite!

we can't wait to come back! (especially cos of the cookie jar they let you raid at the end of your meal!)

degustation-only restaurant tucked away in suburban stanmore.  there was nomenuand our only option was to choose between 6 course or 8 course degustation.  we'll just have to trust the chef and his team and ready to be surprised. the dishes looked simple, clean and well presented using high quality ingredients and flavours that surely delighted and gratified my palate. the service was impeccable and overall a wonderful lunch.