Seven years trading is a long time in the Sydney restaurant business and few owners can lay claim to such longevity. Fewer still have achieved as much as Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt in that time.<\/p>\n
Since the pair first opened Bentley Restaurant and Bar in 2006 they\u2019ve earned two chef\u2019s hats in the SMH Good Food Guide and three prestigious wine glasses. They\u2019re received glowing reviews, eager fans and an enviable reputation for their creative wine list and inventive cuisine.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve never rested on their laurels however, continuing to evolve the business. In 2012 they were joined by third business partner Glen Goodwin and last year the trio took the big step of moving from their comfortable and original Surry Hills location into the busy and bustling Sydney CBD.<\/p>\n
The elegant new space in the Radisson Blu Hotel is, \u201ca continuation of the old restaurant,\u201d says Savage. \u201cBut it\u2019s also about taking Bentley to a new level.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy vision is to create a fantastic city restaurant: somewhere that is still creative but which also suits the business crowd\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crowd had changed a lot in Surry Hills over the years. It seemed a lot of our clientele had started coming from the city,\u201d Savage says. \u201cSo it just made sense to move closer to the CBD\u201d.<\/p>\n
The owners chose award-winning Melbourne architect Pascale Gomes-McNabb to transform the former Bistro Fax into a contemporary and vibrant new space. A sophisticated new menu needed to match such a grand, opulent interior. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot more mature and more evolved, in the sense that there\u2019s more focus on the produce and the flavours\u201d, says Savage.<\/p>\n
As well as an a-la-carte menu – with its signature selection of charcoal-grilled beef – the new restaurant also boasts a separate tasting menu, bar menu and a dedicated vegetarian tasting menu.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the reputation for remarkable food that\u2019s got the punters flocking to Bentley. With over a thousand choices, the wine list is a both comprehensive and focused. \u201cWe always use small producers and prefer smaller less well-known labels. The selection stretches far and wide,\u201d says Savage.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll restaurants tend to evolve over time,\u201d says Savage. However, despite the slick fit-out and new menu, Bentley retains its original creative, down-to-earth appeal. Clearly, it\u2019s still Bentley business as usual.<\/p>\n[\/spb_text_block] [spb_image image=”2160″ image_size=”full” frame=”noframe” intro_animation=”none” animation_delay=”200″ fullwidth=”no” lightbox=”yes” link_target=”_self” caption_pos=”hover” width=”1\/3″ el_position=”first”] [spb_text_block title=”IN THE KITCHEN” animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”2\/3″ el_position=”last”]\n
Bentley\u2019s owners looked to past relationships when establishing the best steps forward for the big move into the business district.<\/p>\n
Their strong partnership with Moffat has been in place since 2006, and the new fit-out benefitted from the shared history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve used Moffat equipment for over ten years. It\u2019s always been reliable and easy to maintain, and it delivers on everything it claims\u201d, says Savage.<\/p>\n
The owners chose a brand new selection of Waldorf Bold equipment<\/a><\/span>, a Convotherm Electric Combi Steamer Oven<\/a><\/span> and a Washtech Undercounter Dishwasher<\/a><\/span> to meet their needs.<\/p>\n \u201cMoffat\u2019s customer service is also excellent and the technology is straightforward. This means the machines rarely have issues. But if they do, the follow up service is fast and reliable,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n[\/spb_text_block]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”1\/1″ el_position=”first last”] Seven years trading is a long time in the Sydney restaurant business and few owners can lay claim to such longevity. Fewer still have achieved as much as Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt in that time. Since the pair first opened Bentley Restaurant and Bar in 2006 they\u2019ve earned two chef\u2019s hats […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,10,177,35,171],"tags":[23,183,19,113,88],"class_list":["post-2162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-cooking","category-nsw","category-restaurant-and-cafe","category-working-kitchen","tag-convotherm","tag-kitchen-equipment","tag-moffat","tag-waldorf","tag-washtech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2162"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2169,"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions\/2169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moffat.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}