the tilbury

tilbury standards. previously the restaurant of choice. easy parking, excellent food but what has happened.
a table for four on a thursday, but all for this day, - non alcohol drinkers. ordered four sparkling mineral water but none was available although it appeared on the menu. had to settle for lemon infused tap water. not a good start.
the slow cooked beef as a main, was ordered "medium".it just fell apart but was only warm and was rare. it was so rare that one gagged with the taste of raw meat.
i normally never send anything back. but this was an exception at $38, and was inedible. it came back after ten minutes but was unchanged. still raw and gagging. it remained uneaten and to the credit of staff, they did not charge for that plate.
but it, along with the no sparkling mineral water, put a dampener on the whole meal.
then there was the usual trouble when one sends a meal back, getting any attention at all from the staff. almost had to trip them up to get to order desert and coffee.
normally i don't give a restaurant a second chance to absorb my $120 for a meal, but then perhaps.......three other guests were satisfied.

tuesday night. "amazing beef burger" comment by preferentially vegetarian daughter! great service, good quality local aussie pub.

the tilbury hotel is located along nicholson street in woolloomooloo. it’s a great place to grab drinks with a nice modern pub feel (they renovated a few years back) and now with new headchef elton inglis (formerly with jamie oliver and ramsey), they deign to establish the tilbury as a new dining destination with premium dining and ingredients :  its doing a great new menu and doing a fancy moet ice champagne bar on fridays (5-7pm). $10 moets. we drop in and attend a cooking masterclass with the chef courtesy of stella concepts. chef elton inglis lifted london’s assiette anglaise’s review score to the 12th top spot on tripadvisor’s restaurant review rankings. here’s a link to the review of assiette in the independent (uk) scallops being dished out. gotta say, these behind the scenes look into a restaurants kitchen are always great. and here’s what you need to make a killer scallop dish. there’s not a lot of ingreidients there really. all the goodies cooking away. noob presentation of o

reg. we had a great sunday lunch here. asparagus to die for and great piece of barra. this seems to be favourite haunt of the lawyers as we ran into several barristers from denman chambers.

dinner at the tilbury. i had dinner here last night (13th june 2013)... loved it!
the food, the service.... top notch!! the wagyu pie was heaven and don't get me started on the pear tart!
all the perks of woolloomooloo wharf without the huge prices.... plus not too far to go from your table when you want to stumble into the courtyard for some after dinner cocktails! what a find!

loud, lousy and lazy.. a disappointing experience all round. from the ear piercing noise that made dinner conversation a shouting match to the 'beef two ways' that was the size of an appetiser this place left us very underwhelmed. the flavour was lovely, but the fact the you pay $35 for two 20 cent sized pieces of beef sitting on a smear of pea puree is not acceptable. the medium rare lamb rack was so rare it was running around the plate pleading for it's life. eat before you go and enjoy a beer instead.

awesome night. i have been to the tilbury quite a few times now for dinner and it just keeps getting better! last night i had dinner there with a friend. we were keen to try the new menu and it was amazing!! although we were tempted try the 'lamb three ways' we had a selection of the starters to share: seared scallops with pancetta (gorgeous), tuna tartare in a soy marinade with avocado cream (superb) and the lancashire hot pot with red cabbage ... perfect for the chilly evening. the real standout though was the chicken "salad" - the chicken was flavoursome, tender, moist, beautiful!
everything came out on these gorgeous slate platters which looked incredible and it was all so beautifully presented we took photos of everything!! (i am not someone who usually takes photos of my food...)
anyway onto dessert. we shared the pannacotta, which was pretty good, and the black forest cake which actually melted my face. i mean it was so good i wanted to kiss the chef. he seemed a bit perplexed by this so i didn't...
it's a bit pricier than it used to be but worth every penny - this experience puts the tilbury firmly in the fine dining category and the service was attentive and friendly. the waiter made a good wine recommendation and was very helpful at explaining how to eat each dish (have a little bit of everything on your fork at once, apparently).
i've always kind of seen the tilbury as serviceable pub food - a little on the "dude" side (spaghetti, roasts, steak etc) but this was several notches above what we've come to expect. the flavours were delicate and as i said the presentation was beautiful. loved it!! will definitely be back.

we only had the sunday bar / bbq menu upstairs but every dish ordered was miserably bad. the average price of dishes was $16 for a beef burger, halibut fish and chips and cider pork belly roll, all of which were plain and tasteless. whilst the fish was fleshy and moist, the 2 small fillets and bland tartare sauce and overdone chips let it down. the pork belly was more like dry pork shreds with no 'belly' fat in it at all and served on a dry and inedible bread roll with a smear of mayo and some shredded cabbage. it must have been the skinniest pig ever. i used to have fond memories of the food at the tilbury but it must have changed or otherwise just be different on sundays when everything from the quality of the food and the service were very poor.

amazing sunday roast!!!

awesome venue, good food, nice drinks, average service.

tasty food prompt and friendly service. a lovely place for lunch and a glass of wine.

wonderful!. i dined at the tilbury on a number of occasions and have loved it every time. the food is great whether in the restaurant or the grill. the food is a little expensive but worth it - the drinks are great too. brilliant wine collection and fantastic cocktails - recommend the lychee and ginger mule. service is great although sometimes can get rather busy at the bar. very nice - highly recommended.

all our entrees were delightful. my confit was perfect. the fat on the belly was nicely render. melt in the mouth! the entrees did take some time to land, but it was worth the wait.

elegant decor, friendly and unrushed! loved it. really enjoyed the lunch today. we ordered 3 entrees: the fig and prosciutto, the alaskan crab with wet polenta and the confit of pork belly. we also had the following for mains: barramundi with scallops, spaghetti with crab, saffron gnocchi. we didn't have time for desserts as we had to dash. sat down at 12.30. left at 2.15pm. service was faultless and friendly. the meals did take some time to arrive. the table adjacent to ours arrived later, had their orders taken after us and had their entrees arrive before us and their mains at least 5 mins before us... took just a tad too long between entree and mains. the dining room wasn't very very crowded either. if not for our midday appointment, i would have liked to try their dessert as well! a great meal! good flavours, good plating, fresh produce and a very comfortable setting!

i will go back again for sure!

the ultimate occasion challenge: lunch with an ex (that you haven't seen in 5 years) who taught you what was cool in drinking and dining circa 2003 (does anyone else remember the white cosmo?), who broke your heart and who now works at the helm of one of australia's leading cocktail bars. faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrkkkkkkk. when looking for somewhere casual enough not to be a big deal, but special enough to be worthy of such a reunion, the tilbury is your friend. with an intelligent menu (think entree of quail legs with cauliflower purée, chestnuts and apple reduction or simple fresh and plump oysters with lemon and eshallot vinegar) a robust wine list and a dessert selection that mates frumpy with fun, tilbury is a fun choice for saturday afternoon lunch in the impressive/casual dining wedge. just watch out for the service- if you and your crew can't laugh at your entree and main wines coming out together before entree, or being forced to gobble your entree as the waitress stands at the tab