Taste five exquisite restaurant dishes under the one roof at the Friends of the Gantry Dinner Series.

Dining out has become more than just a past time. It feeds into our collective identity as fundamentally social and inquisitive beings. It’s an avenue in which we’re willing to spend, often big, in return for delicious food and wine. Here to make your next meal out a more altruistic endeavour is Walsh Bay’s The Gantry. This hatted restaurant, framed by Sydney’s stunning Harbour backdrop, is hosting a special ‘Friends of the Gantry’ Dinner Series. Running during July, The Friends of The Gantry dinner series offers diners the unique opportunity to taste a collaborative menu from some of Australia’s best loved chefs and restaurants, with a portion of the profits donated to OzHarvest.
OzHarvest is the leading food rescue organisation in Australia, collecting quality excess food from commercial outlets and delivering it direct to more than 900 charities who support people in need across Australia.
In this five-course degustation, each meal is uniquely created by one of Chef Joel Bickford’s closest friends in the industry. It gives you the chance to try food by some of Australia’s top chefs, whilst also giving back to the broader community.
So what’s on the menu?
Your first course comes as a delicate introduction. On your plate, elements of smoked Newcastle mackerel, green apple, sour cream, wasabi, dill and wood sorrel. Textually rich, the typical fishiness of mackerel is only subtle in this instance, the sour cream neutralising the acidity otherwise evoked by the little apple cubes. There’s something exceedingly decadent about any kind of crumb. Whisked up with everything else on your fork, your mouth will be pleasantly humming. The mastermind behind this introductory dish is Troy Rhoades-Brown, the Head Chef/Owner of the Hunter Valley’s iconic Muse Restaurant & Muse Kitchen.

Next up is potatoes, truffles, smoked corn and sheeps milk. It’s hard not to instantly fall in love with this dish. The distinctive truffle flavour and aromatics teamed with potato offers that chased after comfort factor, heightened only by the sweet sheeps milk and smokey corn kernels. The mastermind behind this second dish is James Viles from BIOTA. Situated 1.5 hours south of Sydney, much of BIOTA’s inspiration comes from its naturally rich landscape, home to dairies, livestock farms, vegetable growers and wild ingredients.

For your third course, a delicate fillet of murray cod, hidden beneath what appears to be a thin spherical blanket of celeriac, teamed with a light speckling of black olive and salt bush. It is the product of Aaron Ward, Electrolux Young Chef of the Year. Ward started his career over 10 years ago peeling potatoes in the kitchens of the Manning River Hotel, Taree. It’s a far cry from where he stands now, serving up visually striking, precision dishes such as this one here as sous chef at Sixpenny.

Next on the cards, pheasant, served with chestnut, white raisin and brassica. Sounds simple, right? Well this dish, like every other served, is anything but. The Gantry’s very own Joel Bickford is behind this elegant creation, teaming well practiced flavours with hyper modern cooking techniques (just look at that aerated foam!).

Now you’ll want to leave room for dessert, as created by Hanna Leinonen, Sixpenny. If you’re typically against liquorice, here us out on this one. To finish off the night, you have sea buckthorn, carrots and liquorice. Using vegetables in dessert is nothing seriously new, no. It can however be a bit hit and miss. In this instance though, the finely sliced carrots marry all too well with the perfect quenelle of ice cream. The flavours of liquorice are only very subtle, a small glob hiding underneath everything else.

This five course degustation is $99 per person. If you’re looking to take things up a notch, you can also opt for matching wines for an extra $65.

The Gantry Restaurant
11 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Sydney NSW 2000
Bookings via + 61 2 8298 9910
Open Wednesday to Sunday Lunch noon – 2:30pm, daily dinner 6-10pm