Hunter & Barrel, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Noods’ rellies are in town (HI GUYS!) and wanting a bite to eat in the Darling Harbour area we decided to go to Hunter & Barrel which sits on the former Chinta Ria site on Cockle Bay Wharf. We start with the crowd pleasing Hot Cheese Dip ($12), a cast iron pan holding molten cheese that we took great delight in dunking the toasted sourdough and promptly burning the roofs of our mouths. Or maybe that was just me because I’m impatient and I just love cheese 😛

You can choose from the a la carte menu or get a little bit of everything in one of their feast packages. The Hunter’s Feast ($38/pp) is for a minimum of two people. We’re a group of six today so we go for the Gathering Feast ($45pp) which needs to be ordered by a minimum of four people. The Feast kicks things off with this beautiful platter of cured meats, pickles, olives, crusty bread and garlic dip.

And then the main event arrives! There’s a coil of kransky bursting with aged cheddar cheese, a meaty Wagyu sausage, half a juicy roasted chicken, slabs of chilli pork belly and my fave of the bunch- the freakishly tender roasted beef rib that had a perfect creamy layer of fat and fall off the bone meat.

The Feast also came with any 4 choices of salads or sides and boy, were they super generous servings! The Radicchio Salad was crisp and had a fair amount of balsamic dressing and parmesan cheese; the Grain Salad held a mixture of chickpea, barley, lemon & rocket; the Butter Mushrooms were super juicy and smothered in garlic butter; and for some greenery, the Broccolini to ease our meat sweats.

We also ordered the Grilled Flat Iron Steak ($28) which was cooked medium and came with a dollop of garlic butter and our choice of Grilled Cauliflower. The steak was pretty damn amazing, perfectly grilled so the edges were slightly smoky, but still retaining a juicy baby pink centre. The cauliflower was a surprise hit, with the florets toasty and crispy and tasting slightly nutty.

And because our family of carnivores can never have too much meat, we ordered the Rack of Lamb ($38) with coal roasted corn. I freaking love lamb and it was cooked spot on with nicely rendered fat and a juicy centre. Side note: The corn cob is cut into segments so you don’t feel too caveman-like and gnaw away at the whole cob. Which I would still do but you know, sharing is caring 😛

For dessert, I couldn’t resist ordering the Chocolate & Marshmallow Roast ($10), Hunter & Barrel’s take on the s’more. Grab a bikkie and plunge it into the depths where a layer of molten chocolate hides beneath fluffy peaks of toasted marshmallow. Ridiculously sweet yes, but ahhh tastes like childhood 😛

There’s long wooden tables and cosy booth seating inside but if the weather’s nice you definitely need to sit outside and enjoy the view of the Harbour with a cheeky beverage or two!

Hunter & Barrel
Tenancy 303 Cockle Bay Wharf,
Darling Harbour
Sydney

Trading Hours:
Sun – Thurs: 12pm – 10pm
Fri – Sat: 12pm – 10:30pm