There’s been quite a few new restaurants opening recently in Sydney which is awesome and hopefully a sign that the hospitality industry is bouncing back from the horror that was 2020. Beast & Co (425 Bourke Street, Surry Hills) has recently taken over the site of Bare Grill, serving Czech cuisine and what caught my eye was their beef tartare.

The Beef tartare ($26) has got to be one of my favourites in Sydney! The flavours are balanced, there’s the crunch of chopped pickles and the perfectly seasoned chopped beef. I highly rate the garlic-y crisp bread too, it’s such a perfect beer snack and on Tuesday’s you can get the tartare and 500ml beer for $24 which is crazy good value.

The Cold cooked fish ($14) is ceviche style- the fish is ‘cooked’ in a traditional vinegar pickling liquid used in the Czech Republic. The fish changes depending on what’s fresh at the market and today’s offering was salmon and the curls of pickled chilli and onion makes for a bright and zingy starter.

The Chicken liver pate ($18) is a generous serve with 2 quenelles served with onion jam, pickled vegetables and a bowl of grilled bread. The pate isn’t completely smooth but I quite liked that there was a bit of texture and happily slathered inch thickness portions.

A definite must order is the Duck breast ($32). The skin is so incredibly crisp, the layer of fat perfectly rendered and the meat baby pink and juicy. There’s a bed of caramelised red cabbage, red grapes, berries, and a swirl of the most delicious port wine reduction that I would’ve licked off the plate had I been alone.

The twice cooked chicken breast ($26) is first sous-vide and then finished in the pan, ensuring the chicken is incredibly juicy and tender. Special shoutout to the creamed corn, I freaking love corn in all it’s forms!

Lately my favourite cut of steak is the flank and Beast & Co’s 300g flank steak ($34) sure is a beauty, a perfect medium rare, tender and so incredibly flavoursome that it doesn’t even need the accompanying horseradish cream.

We can’t have steak without mash so a serve of Potato purée ($9) is ordered and woah baby all the butter has me swooning with joy.

Beast & Co
425 Bourke Street,
Surry Hills