Bridge Dining Room, Sydney

Pont Dining Room is the new restaurant at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney. It was the perfect place for a birthday party with my friends Miss America and Queen Viv, as they love old world hotels, calm ambiance and modern Australian menu. Find out what this restaurant is like and what you can’t pass up (and what dish you can skip for now!).

“You won’t believe where we went, we drove to Vaucluse!” exclaimed Queen Viv, my directionally challenged friend who, with Miss America, had toured Sydney driving from the inner west into the city. It was Saturday evening and the rain was falling in torrents across Sydney. Mr NQN and I met them at the Pont Dining Room at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney. The former Treasury building transformed into a hotel recently opened Pont (which means Bridge in French) in the restaurant space on the Bridge Street side.

The head chef here is Kanishka Amunugama, formerly of Mount Lofty House. The restaurant is a long rectangular room with a whiskey bar at one end as well as banquette seating and a deep semi-circular booth. Silver lights in the shape of a gingko leaf hang from the ceiling. Further up a short flight of stairs is a private dining room which can be blocked off by thick curtains. The service strikes a perfect balance between being friendly but still deferential. Queen Viv, as her name suggests, often takes issue with the laid-back nature of some servers (Miss America is more easy-going and doesn’t like to make a fuss), but our waitress completely won her over.

I lust after Mr NQN’s Breeze Spritz with tried and true vodka, strawberry, basil, lemon myrtle and Rhubi mistelle. My choice is a non-alcoholic drink called Sober-Walk with kiwi, mint, sage, eucalyptus and Lyre agave, which is nice but a bit unusual. Queen Viv and Miss America order champagne. One thing we noticed is that the filtered sparkling water seemed quite expensive, costing $26.70 total for 3 bottles, but it is filtered and carbonated in-house and is not an externally purchased product. Most places that screen themselves today charge around $5 per person.

I always ask for my fries to be hot, like “burn my fingers hot” because life is too short for lukewarm fries. This usually means that the staff takes them out as soon as they are prepared rather than waiting for the rest of the dishes to be ready. When these come out, they are warm but not hot. Our waitress asks about the temperature of the fries and when she discovers that they are not hot, she offers to bring out some really hot fries. When she puts the fresh bowl down, they are noticeably better. I would consider these fries a must order because the combination of kimchi and gruyere sauce is perfectly creamy and spicy on top of the crispy, hot fries. We are working quickly with this and I am even considering ordering another one, they are so good.

I love this recent crumpet trend and these tiny sourdough crumpets are served in pairs with white anchovy chutney, whipped goat cheese and lemon thyme. This is a very flavorful and umami dish and you have to love fishy flavors for this. I think a sweet element could also do good on the crumpet.

We are all attracted to starters because we always like them more and this evening we decide to order 6 starters and 2 main courses. The beef tartare comes with enoki mushrooms, ponzu, green harissa and a nori cracker. This version of beef tartare, while not traditional, nevertheless echoes the flavors of a steak tartare and is even more appealing. Half-French queen Viv loves this version.

The bluefin tuna is sliced ​​thin like a carpaccio and accompanied by fried capers, herbs, touches of lime, caviar and a delicious bonito mayonnaise. For me it’s like a distant cousin to vitello tonnato made with tuna rather than veal and we all really like the freshness and flavors of this starter.

Hiramasa kingfisher is a stunning dish and beautifully presented. These are pieces of raw kingfish served in a buttermilk sauce with beet vinegar and salmon roe. Although I loved the presentation, I wasn’t as taken with the strong flavor of the kingfish.

The last dish to arrive is the Bangalow Sweet Pork served as a smooth slice of pork belly with chorizo ​​jam and Vegemite butter sauce. The pork is so moist it’s easy to quarter it with a fork and spoon and it absolutely melts in your mouth. The chorizo ​​jam is a clever idea and gives the pork a tang and intensity while the Vegemite butter is creative and creates a lovely pool of sauce for the soft, gelled layers of meat.

We ordered two main dishes and the first is my favorite. It’s a grilled spatchcock with fermented chili butter and corn. The spatchcock is cooked perfectly, so it’s still deliciously juicy but very underdone; even the white meat is very tender and the fermented chili butter reminds me of Chicken Peri Peri.

While Mr. NQN and I love chicken, Miss America and Queen Viv prefer steak. It comes in two cuts, breast and fillet slow-cooked with fine compressed pear shavings, caramelized onion and crispy beef fat mince (tip: order an extra from the side menu, you will not regret it). I prefer milder, slow-cooked cuts over steak, but that’s just me as I love a good sauce. The steak is also very good and both are perfect when combined with the texture of the crispy hash browns.

Polenta limoncello, Tasmanian leather honey, rosemary pistachio ice cream $18

Although we really loved the tasty food and service, the only part of the meal I didn’t really enjoy was the desserts. The polenta and limoncello cake is accompanied by Tasmanian leather honey and rosemary and pistachio ice cream. I wasn’t a huge fan of the flavors in this dessert, although Miss America loved this dessert.

Of the two desserts, the chocolate mousse would be my choice. It’s a chocolate mousse topped with browned butter crumbs and a crunch of dried raspberry caramel that’s a little sticky on the teeth. There are more crumbs than mousse on this, so if you were hoping for a traditional chocolate mousse, you might be a little disappointed. Our charming waitress explains to us that the desserts are being reworked. I think I would just order another bowl of chips or extra hash browns.

So tell me, dear reader, are you more like Queen Viv and opposed to casual service or like Miss America and don’t like to make a fuss?

I was given partial credit for this meal, but paid the balance ourselves. All opinions remain my own.

Dining room Bridge

InterContinental Sydney

12/117 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Tuesday to Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Closed Sunday and Monday

Telephone: (02) 9240 1325

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