BYO restaurants in Sydney

[maybs]

So picking up from the dilemma regarding the burg offline, does anyone have any recommendations for centrally located/easy to get to BYO places?

As mentioned there, we do tend to hit Golden Century a bit these days, maybe too much, because it ticks a lot of boxes.

Variety and options are always good though so let's pick people's brains. Needs to be easily accessible, good food, not too expensive, reasonable amount of space and be open to wine nerds with glassware, excessive amounts of bottles etc.

Hopefully we can unearth a few gems. For my part I mostly frequent the usual places we go for offlines, or local restaurants in Balmain where I live, so I don't have a strong bead on city or easy access options.

In Balmain I can strongly recommend Rosso Pomodoro for pizza, Mabasa for Korean and Chon for Thai (not BYO Fri and Sat). Love Fish for fancy fish and chips and Darlingreen for good value basic mod oz also very good options. The one issue with some of these restaurants is they are a bit small, but good for small groups or, with Darlingreen if the weather is nice, spreading out al fresco on the footpath out the front.

Sadly Balmain isn't on a train line or ideally situated I suppose for a lot of people, so let's hear what is.

Go!

[rooman]

i think we need to approach some restaurants that do not normally offer BYO but by virtue of an individual's relationship with the restaurant will agree to BYO. In London the UK Wine Forum has its offsites at the Ledbury which overtime has become one of the top restaurants in town (for those with a sense of history, its chef is another of the old Banc crew from Martin Place).

Does anyone have a relationship with any of these restaurants?

http://www.urbanchicguides.com/top-10-p ... ing-rooms/

http://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/sydn ... 106-gkrcgo

[Polymer]

Quite a few restaurants will let you do BYO even if they don't normally allow it..but generally it will need to be in the middle of the week and the per bottle price is usually pretty high...

I'd say if you're planning on an offline with some big time wines, it might be worth it....It tends to fall in that 50/bottle range..

[rooman]

Quite a few restaurants will let you do BYO even if they don't normally allow it..but generally it will need to be in the middle of the week and the per bottle price is usually pretty high...

I'd say if you're planning on an offline with some big time wines, it might be worth it....It tends to fall in that 50/bottle range..

I suppose what we are trying to do is flag those restaurants that people know will accept BYO even if its not a recognized policy.

Which ones have you had the experience with?

Mark

[maybs]

Yeah a lot of non-BYO restaurants will let you BYO if you book a big enough table, or the private dining room. However, private dining room usually comes with a minimum spend and often a limited menu, so it just depends on the level you are pitching things at.

I have done BYO in the private dining room at Est without any hassle but at $50 a bottle. This was for an event featuring Krug, Giaconda and Grange so $50 a bottle was a steal since they had some of the same vintage Granges on their list at like $1,700. Otto was also prepared to come on board for the same event.

I know some of the others have done BYO at the old Porteno, and also at Guillaume (now shut) and Tetsuyas.

[Mike Hawkins]

i think we need to approach some restaurants that do not normally offer BYO but by virtue of an individual's relationship with the restaurant will agree to BYO. In London the UK Wine Forum has its offsites at the Ledbury which overtime has become one of the top restaurants in town (for those with a sense of history, its chef is another of the old Banc crew from Martin Place).

Does anyone have a relationship with any of these restaurants?

http://www.urbanchicguides.com/top-10-p ... ing-rooms/

http://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/sydn ... 106-gkrcgo

I used to live close by The Ledbury and never understood the hype. That said, Taittinger Comtes at £110 a bottle was a compelling proposition....

[rooman]

i think we need to approach some restaurants that do not normally offer BYO but by virtue of an individual's relationship with the restaurant will agree to BYO. In London the UK Wine Forum has its offsites at the Ledbury which overtime has become one of the top restaurants in town (for those with a sense of history, its chef is another of the old Banc crew from Martin Place).

Does anyone have a relationship with any of these restaurants?

http://www.urbanchicguides.com/top-10-p ... ing-rooms/

http://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/sydn ... 106-gkrcgo

I used to live close by The Ledbury and never understood the hype. That said, Taittinger Comtes at £110 a bottle was a compelling proposition....

Mike

when you are in London did you ever join the UK Wine Pages for any of their offlines. They seem to get really good wines at their evenings and more specialized ie Bordeaux 1996 vintage etc.

Mark

[Mike Hawkins]

I didn't Mark. I met some of the key players at the numerous tastings put on by the wine stores and they seemed like a good bunch. The free tastings in London were superb... tete du cuvée Champagnes, 2nd and 3rd growth Bordeaux, super Tuscans etc.

[Mike Hawkins]

I didn't Mark. I met some of the key players at the numerous tastings put on by the wine stores and they seemed like a good bunch. The free tastings in London were superb... tete du cuvée Champagnes, 2nd and 3rd growth Bordeaux, super Tuscans etc.

[rooman]

Does anyone know this venue? http://concreteplayground.com/sydney/re ... /folonomo/

http://concreteplayground.com/sydney/fo ... in-sydney/

[michel]

Does anyone know this venue? http://concreteplayground.com/sydney/re ... /folonomo/

http://concreteplayground.com/sydney/fo ... in-sydney/

Looks good

[Michael R]

Had dinner there twice a few months ago.
Very good both times.

[maybs]

That sounds like a good little find!

[deejay81]

Don't know how this was missed but had a fantastic BYO dinner @ Gastro Park (Potts Point). 2 Chef hats. Close to Kings Cross station and easy to get to.
You can choose between 10 course or 7 course dego on the weekends and also a la carte weekdays. Food & service was top quality.
The $30pb was great for a restaurant of that calibre.

Took a Franck Bonville 2009 BdB & a 2002 Ornellaia. Great night.

[rooman]

Don't know how this was missed but had a fantastic BYO dinner @ Gastro Park (Potts Point). 2 Chef hats. Close to Kings Cross station and easy to get to.
You can choose between 10 course or 7 course dego on the weekends and also a la carte weekdays. Food & service was top quality.
The $30pb was great for a restaurant of that calibre.

Took a Franck Bonville 2009 BdB & a 2002 Ornellaia. Great night.

many thanks. excellent info.

mark

[TiggerK]

Agreed, thanks deejay, a higher end restaurant that allows BYO is always great to have in the options arsenal. Special events, special wine themes etc.

Especially with the 3x markups on their wine list! Food sounds amazing though, must check it out ASAP.

[Polymer]

I didn't know Gastro Park allowed BYO...the restaurant is fantastic....30pb sounds pretty good..

[maybs]

Agreed, good find. The restaurant is very nice.

[mjs]

Jeez, I thought $20pb at Matteo's in Melb was expensive, $30pb is exorbitant

[michel]

Jeez, I thought $20pb at Matteo's in Melb was expensive, $30pb is exorbitant

Esquire in Brisbane is $50 pb

[Polymer]

Jeez, I thought $20pb at Matteo's in Melb was expensive, $30pb is exorbitant

It is...but when you compare it to the alternatives in that same dining tier which is 50pb or none at all, it isn't that bad.

[deejay81]

If I was dining at a higher end restaurant either on a nice date/function/gathering I would be more than happy to pay $30pb to drink what i wanted to drink. It's also a good excuse to bring out some nicer wines you've been wanting to try.
Either that or pay 3x rrp for something you may or may not want on the wine list.

Most higher end restaurants will either not allow BYO or make you pay more than 30...

Anyway, I'd go there again and happily pay the corkage again.

[odyssey]

Agreed, more and more restaurants at multiple tiers are going strictly no BYO. It's an unfortunate trend for wine collectors.

I'm far more likely to pay $50pb corkage to bring something special I've been stashing away than $300-500 for a mediocre substitute. Especially in Australia where restaurant cellars don't have the depth, age and value of similarly-tiered European restaurant cellars.

[Michael R]

If I was dining at a higher end restaurant either on a nice date/function/gathering I would be more than happy to pay $30pb to drink what i wanted to drink.

+1

[rooman]

If I was dining at a higher end restaurant either on a nice date/function/gathering I would be more than happy to pay $30pb to drink what i wanted to drink.

+1

I have to agree paying $30 in a decent high end restaurant is fine by me. Nothing pisses me off more than looking at wines on a list that are marked up by $100s more than I initially paid and they are not even a decent vintage.

Mark

[Mike Hawkins]

Agreed, more and more restaurants at multiple tiers are going strictly no BYO. It's an unfortunate trend for wine collectors.

I'm far more likely to pay $50pb corkage to bring something special I've been stashing away than $300-500 for a mediocre substitute. Especially in Australia where restaurant cellars don't have the depth, age and value of similarly-tiered European restaurant cellars.

I used to pay USD65pb at Eleven Madison Park and I was miles in front given the markups (great list though)

[rooman]

Ok for those that live in the East, I went to Chinta Kechil in Double Bay last night. It is a fun Malaysian street hawker restaurant run by the team that originally set up Chinta Ria in Darling Harbour. Great atmosphere. Whilst the food is probably too spicy for an offline, it is BYO and cheap with bloody good food. 9 of us went last night as part of a farewell; after ordering way too much food, the price per head was only $35. Great for aromatic wines like rieslings etc.

[Polymer]

Ok for those that live in the East, I went to Chinta Kechil in Double Bay last night. It is a fun Malaysian street hawker restaurant run by the team that originally set up Chinta Ria in Darling Harbour. Great atmosphere. Whilst the food is probably too spicy for an offline, it is BYO and cheap with bloody good food. 9 of us went last night as part of a farewell; after ordering way too much food, the price per head was only $35. Great for aromatic wines like rieslings etc.

Mark,

Sounds great! Would be fantastic for a real casual offline with some Riesling or Gewurz...or maybe some Rose...

[rooman]

Ok for those that live in the East, I went to Chinta Kechil in Double Bay last night. It is a fun Malaysian street hawker restaurant run by the team that originally set up Chinta Ria in Darling Harbour. Great atmosphere. Whilst the food is probably too spicy for an offline, it is BYO and cheap with bloody good food. 9 of us went last night as part of a farewell; after ordering way too much food, the price per head was only $35. Great for aromatic wines like rieslings etc.

Mark,

Sounds great! Would be fantastic for a real casual offline with some Riesling or Gewurz...or maybe some Rose...

Sadly the reds I took to show a friend were just swamped by the spice but those wines would work well. It's also just 200-300 m from the Edgecliff train station. So for a causal fun offline it would work well and they take bookings. I also love gewurz but no one would normally bring it to an offline so that in itself is a nice change.

We could do one in April if people are interested and call it the very spicy offline.

Mark

[dave vino]

Could be good, I have a couple of skin contact Rizzas I've been wanting to try.