The clear water laps the sand. The white fringe on red and white striped umbrellas on the beach rustle gently, as do the white curtains of the dining room I’m seated in. I’m dipping melt-in-your-mouth potato flatbread into a tahini dip drizzled with a spicy green sauce, savouring the different flavours as I lean back against my chair’s pink and white striped cushion, taking it all in.
You’d be right to think I was on Amalfi Coast, dining at an authentic Italian seaside restaurant. But, in fact, I’m in Sydney, just a 30-minute drive from home. I’m at St Siandra, which quietly opened in February this year and sits right on Middle Harbour in Mosman. It’s named after the famous Middle Harbour-based yacht that won a Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race double in the 1950s and 1960s.
Co-owners Gavin Gray, who has over 20 years of hospitality experience, and chef-turned-restauranteur Mitch Davis had been working together for six years when the space adjacent to the Middle Harbour Yacht Club went up for lease.
“We’d been chatting for a while about finding a spot to create a new venue,” says Gray. “Locations like that don’t come up often so we jumped on it, starting to gather up a team of top hospo talent together — from interior designer Sally Taylor, to passionate young chef Sam McCallun — and came up with the concept of St Siandra.”
Fresh from his time running Revolver Espresso in Bali, Adam George is the venue’s general manager. Gray describes it as a relaxed, coastal holiday-inspired restaurant and bar, which makes the most of the stunning water views at Mosman’s The Spit. He says there’s nothing else quite like St Siandra in Sydney.
He says the best way to set the scene for a breakfast (Friday-Sunday), lunch (Wednesday-Sunday) or dinner (Thursday-Saturday) here is to arrive by water — either in a water taxi or private boat — breezing into the private berth, before skipping across and the sand and settling into a table overlooking the water.
“Order up a glass of Laurent-Perrier Champagne to start, or perhaps one of our cocktails named after historic yachts from the area,” Gray says. “The Champagne Charlie with Manly Spirits Limoncello, citrus and processco is a popular option.
To follow the drink, Gray suggests ordering the potato flatbread paired with tahini is a must, along with skewers of Clarence River baby octopus and Skull Island prawns cooked on charcoal. Then, share a market fish, lamb shoulder and prawn spaghetti over a bottle of summer-style wine. That said, it’s the Jack’s Creek Angus MB4 striploin with lobster tail in a Champagne and Pedro sauce that’s Gray’s favourite dish on the menu.
“It’s our take on a surf and turf, celebrating great local produce and rich, moreish flavours,” he says.
To finish, Gray says the pineapple pavlova with crème fraiche and molasses has been a big guest winner. And that the real best way to end your time here is to retire to a deck chair on the sand of the private beach, digestif in hand. He says he wants guests to walk away feeling relaxed, reconnected and happy – how you’d feel after a much-needed beach holiday in a far-flung location.
St Siandra’s first-floor events venue, Bluebird Room and Deck, is a soft blue space with a private bar and deck that caters for functions with up to 70 people. You can also grab takeaway coffee from St Dreux and pastries from Seaforth’s Staple Bakery from the venue any day of the week.
“Dining here, you’ll feel like you’ve travelled much further afield than just up the road or across the bridge,” Gray says. “It’s a bit of escapism, a holiday in your own backyard, a trip to the Amalfi Coast without the price tag, a bit of endless summer year-round.”
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