Over the past month, Swillhouse has emerged like a bat out of hell, opening numerous high-profile venues, including the new-look relocation of Shady Pines Saloon, which is now part of the CBD’s YCK Laneways district, and Caterpillar Club spin-off, Curtains Jazz Club. Also opening as part of this aggressive run: Barons.
Barons is the hospitality group’s first major restaurant opening since Le Foote modernised the dining scene in The Rocks in 2023, raising hospitality standards in Sydney’s cobbly old town.
And it’s their most beautiful yet, looking like something you’d find in Lower Manhattan instead of the Harbour City. Its presence does some serious heavy-lifting for the historic streets between Martin Place and Circular Quay, carving out a section of the same building that houses the recently remodelled InterContinental Sydney and papering the historic bones with an elegant, art-filled interior that feels lived-in and deliciously romantic.
Homely mustard yellow walls are lined with tiny artworks lit by flickering candlelight that twitches from tall candles on each table. The whole spot looks set with date night in mind, borrowing from both Le Foote and Hubert in aesthetic, while carving something just as charming and nostalgic. Swillhouse most certainly has a type, and their penchant for creating these gorgeous old-world dining spaces helps pitch this section of the city as a Little Manhattan of sorts.
I mean, you’ve got the gothic InterContinental Sydney enjoying its new lease on life. A bit further down is the New York-styled Clam Bar, and beneath that is Neptune’s Grotto. Curtains Jazz Club is just on the other side of the hotel from Barons, fashioned as the type of late-night music bar you’d stumble upon after a night out in the West Village.
Group Executive Chef Brendan Fong and ex-Odd Culture chef Alex Haupt are using Barons to showcase elevated English food, in a space that feels distinctively like the kind of regional cottage-like restaurant you’d find buried in the UK’s countryside.
It works exceptionally well. Hay-smoked trout is served on bite-sized crackers with a sweet, salty Gentleman’s Relish. While $28 is a lot to pay for a dish that’s done-and-dusted in just two bites, the gorgeously rich, satisfying flavour speaks highly of the kitchen’s cooking.
Better yet is a $30 plate of wood-fired bone marrow with parsley and caper sauce. I usually find myself struggling to get as much of the soft, fatty tissue out of the bone. Here, it pours out on the slightly provocation, giving me plenty of marrow to spread on the sweet, thick-cut toast the dish is served with.
$250 will get you a half-roasted pig’s head with all the trimmings, and not since Nelly Robinson set up shop in Surry Hills has anything felt more British. But I forego that, mainly due to price, and pick at the Hearts and Minds instead. The $35 dish hides lamb’s brains and grilled hearts under a layer of bitter leaves, paying homage to Jeremy Strode, the Merivale chef who had a particular fondness for this dish and served it at Bistrode CBD until his untimely death in 2017.
More Britishness barks onto the plate with a $26 scotch egg flavoured with Roman beach chutney. It’s soft, squishy and rich, but I’m more taken by the $35 seasonal tart. Currently, it’s a texturally perfect slice of endives and watercress, an impressive vegetarian option that’s much lighter and more likable than I expected. It’s even better than the $36 wagyu corned beef bagel, which tastes like an expensive Reuben sandwich.
Whatever you land on, $6 on top will get you a sticky, delicious Yorkshire pudding on the side, and an additional $6 will layer on some gravy. It’s much more unique than your typical plate of broccolini, although you can also get carrots that have been glazed with caraway seeds, and a bitter leaf salad with cream.
Barons is another strong entry in the Swillhouse stable and an appropriately grand way for a restaurant group to start a new year. Yet it wouldn’t even be half as exciting if it weren’t just a few doors down from Curtains.
The night is young and full of jazz
Swillhouse’s other major opening cuts a stand of DNA from the popular Caterpillar Club and grows it into an authentic jazz club. Yes, the type that would feel more at home in New York, London or Paris. The dimly-lit bar has that essential ambience for a jazz nook, with a bright, low-slung stage at the far end of a long bar, and a mix of seating that speaks to both groups and solo drinkers.
I stumble into the bar just in time to catch a local three-piece called DINK, throwing out some heady, experimental jazz to fill the room with a transportive sound. I’m told that Curtains has a very clear path moving forward. As one of the only purpose-built jazz bars in the country, programming will attempt to highlight all kinds of jazz, from Cuban to classic.
Plus, there are designs to have free live jazz every night, meaning a dinner booking at Barons is always best backed up with a nightcap and some cerebral sounds. That’s the kind of night that simply wasn’t possible in Sydney even just a few months ago, highlighting just how much this city’s nightlife is changing by the week.
