July 2023 update: When Time Out first reviewed the Blue Door back in August 2022, we said: “The Blue Door’s wine list is curated by general manager (and ray-of-sunshine incarnate) Angelica Nohra, and is almost entirely Australian, heavily focusing on the diversity of wine from all over NSW.” Now, the Blue Door’s stellar vino list has been recognised (for the second year running) in the 2023 NSW Sommelier's Wine List Awards, with the team taking home the award for 2023 Best NSW Wine List in a Sydney venue, with less than 60 seats.
Run by the NSW Wine Industry Association, and spanning eight categories, these prestigious wine awards aim to shine a light on excellent NSW-based sommeliers and venues with killer wine lists that support local winemakers, and showcase NSW’s great and diverse drops. So, if you need any more reason to make a booking (and drink wine) at the Blue Door – take this as your sign. And, you can check out all the winners here. Congrats, team.
Read on for our review of the Blue Door by Elizabeth McDonald from August 2022.
*****
For the team at the Blue Door, it’s all about giving back more than what they’ve taken. Chef Dylan Cashman’s entire ethos is about grass-roots operations, literally. The ambitious and innovative 24-seat restaurant on Waterloo Street places sustainability on the same rung as deliciousness, and Cashman is as exacting in his ethics as he is in his execution.
From the heritage wheat sourced from the tiny 400 person town of North Star, on the Queensland and New South Wales border – where employees and shareholders must be residents – to sourcing fish from Australia’s only regenerative wild Murray cod population in the Riverina, these guys talk the talk and walk the walk. The entire premise, in fact, is about connection to provenance. To prime your palate, bread is served with a selection of salts from around the globe, to be hand-grated to awaken your tastebuds. That is just about the only time you'll taste something from outside Australia during your six-course degustation. The locavore focus is proudly narrated in every dish, from the Windsor artichoke butterscotch to the herbs picked from the economical air garden by the venue's eponymously hued door.
The local flair doesn't stop at the food though. The Blue Door wine list is curated by general manager (and ray-of-sunshine incarnate) Angelica Nohra, and is almost entirely Australian, heavily focusing on the diversity of wine from all over NSW. On any given night she might be pairing a crisp, fresh Angus Vinden Hunter Valley semillon with sweet spring peas or Murray Smith's cabernet sauvignon from the slopes of Mount Canobolas with lamb belly and harissa. Nohra even keeps a secret menu that showcases hidden vintage Champagnes, a small, ever-changing array of international wines, and cocktail specials. Alongside Nohra on the floor is Joel Ervin (ex Orpheus Island Lodge and Usher Tinkler Wines cellar door manager) but don’t be surprised if your lobster tartare with rhubarb, macadamia whey and tarragon is brought directly to your table by the chef.
The menu is constantly changing, sometimes daily, in order to utilise every element of the animals that are broken down and served in creative and innovative ways. One day your seven-course degustation might feature Camden Valley Farm chicken breast cooked in leek ash, the next you might be eating the same chicken’s deboned thigh with broad beans and housemade yoghurt.
Degustations ain't your thing? Good news. The team do a 'wine-down' on Mondays and Tuesdays that are all about the snacks and a few vinos. Bacalau croquettes, confit duck tacos, coch-chip cookies and plenty more sound like a pretty solid start to the week.
While you can’t scan the menu ahead of time, you can enter the minimally styled space – simply furnished with soft leather banquette seating, pristine white walls and a rugged slate trim – with absolute confidence that you’ll be eating dishes of incredible quality with more than a few top-notch wines to wash them down.