Woollahra’s New Garden Eatery.
Walking up to The Lord Dudley Hotel on a busy Thursday evening, I take a moment to absorb the buzzy and high-paced vibe that runs throughout the ground floor. Freshly renovated, this family owned venue had just opened up The Garden restaurant downstairs. Located beneath a visually stunning glass atrium, The Garden stands in bright contrast to the more homely classical-style English pub upstairs.
With a new interior design, The Garden fronts a central marble bar, exposed sandstone walls and hanging foliage, creating somewhat of a hidden oasis. Ushered downstairs to be seated, the atmosphere quickly changes from a busy local pub, to a more relaxed and laid-back setting.
The Garden is beautifully fitted, from the sandstone walls to the lavish greenery, completing the look. Their menu offers classic seasonal English dishes, with a modern twist. Seeing as The Garden opened its doors as the rest of Sydney went into hibernation, Head Chef Paul Medcalf designed the menu with wholesome and hearty dishes in mind. Remaining true to the Lord Dudley heritage and with an emphasis on using fresh local produce, the Garden teases us with what is to become a very popular venue this winter.
For starters, we ordered the cured salmon with pickled onion, horseradish crème fraiche ($16) and house made pan-fried gnocchi with shaved Australian truffle (entree size $22). The salmon is delicious and well cured, the little blinis topped with a thick layer of crème fraiche only completing the package. With truffle season in full swing, the distinctive aromatics and flavour of the truffle shines through, grated generously over fluffy pillows of freshly made gnocchi. Both dishes are a total stand out.
Mains include dishes such as a crumbed veal cutlet, Mirrool Creek lamb shank and the classic Dudley Pie of the Day. We ordered the 300g Jacks Creek Sirloin, served up with thrice cooked chips, caramelised onion and red wine jus ($38), accompanied with a bottle of Serafino ‘Goose Island’ McLaren Vale SA ($42). The sirloin was beautifully cooked, and went really well with a serve of the mixed leaf house dressing ($9) and cauliflower & cheese gratin ($9), which really made this a wholesome and tasty main dish. However, due to the large turnover of patrons on this particular night, there was rather a long wait on our main and sides. Quickly forgiven, our waitress was more than accommodating and apologised for the wait.
As our plates were cleared, we were subtly drooling over the dessert menu, our eyes falling to the Cheeseboard ($18.5), with a selection of soft and hard cheeses. For those of you who are currently accompanying me in the standing mission of finding Sydney’s best cheeseboard, I might add that it’s a decent serve and did not disappoint. The selection of soft and hard cheeses was well rounded, landing a good spot on my top 10 list.
We also added a serve of the Sticky Date Ice Cream Sandwich ($12), just to be completely sure that we have completed our foodies duty. Dear Dudley, it was tasty.
The Lord Dudley is one of Sydney’s much-loved English pubs and delivers far beyond expectations. The Garden is a beautiful venue, perfectly suited to a warm and huddled evening of dinner and drinks. Ticking all the boxes from fitting, locally produced products and music, the Garden is a wonderful location for those looking for a different venue experience this Sydney winter.
Lord Dudley Hotel
236 Jersey Rd Woollahra 2025
Opening hours: Lunch, Fri to Sun. Dinner Mon to Sat: 6 to 9.30pm Sun: 6 to 8.30pm
You can check out the full menu plus more on the Lord Dudley Hotel’s website here
