Le Grand Grill is opening in Brighton-Le-Sands, Sydney, with modern Greek food specialist Peter Conistis supporting executive chef James Roberts at the French-influenced restaurant and steakhouse.
The 150-seat venue at The Brighton Hotel Sydney will open on Wednesday, November 11, serving dishes including steak tartare, French butter, emulsified sauces and a savoury take on tarte tatin.
Roberts’ version replaces the traditional fruit filling with carrot slowly cooked in spice butter. Conistis described it as “such a great variation of tarte tartin”, praising its “flavour combination” and the way the carrot is prepared.
The dish is among several created by Roberts, who grew up around the cooking of his Algerian-born French mother. Her food included rabbit tagine, while spices and olives featured in her ragout.
Roberts developed his professional technique at Sydney restaurant Est before spending two decades working alongside Conistis at Omega, Civic Dining and Ammos, the Greek restaurant upstairs from the new venue.
Le Grand Grill marks an opportunity for Roberts to take the lead after years of collaborating with Conistis. Their shared approach is reflected in dishes such as bone marrow with harissa-spiced yoghurt: Roberts created the marrow dish, while Conistis devised the accompanying cucumber salad.
The restaurant’s meat offering will include True North Beef tenderloin, Kidman cote de boeuf and citrus-fed Chauvel striploin served on the bone. A Westholme wagyu tomahawk will be cooked over ironbark and charcoal before being carved at the table.
It will also be one of only two restaurants in Sydney serving Frites Atelier, the fries created by Dutch chef Sergio Herman. Other dishes in development include dry-aged duck with kumquat, red-wine jus and French classics such as lavender-scented madeleines.
The ground-floor site had been empty for about two years while restaurants opened above it at The Brighton Hotel Sydney. The fit-out includes a walk-in wine cellar and marble marked with burgundy streaks, which Conistis likened to a steak.
The name was chosen during a long lunch and refers both to the restaurant’s Brighton-Le-Sands setting and The Grand Parade, the waterside road running through the suburb. Le Grand Grill will serve lunch from Friday to Sunday and dinner from Wednesday to Sunday.
