It may be a sign of the times that so many new restaurants are dialling up the comfort factor right now, their menus and rooms consciously embracing the familiar and the nostalgic. But it’s not all looking back through sepia-coloured glasses. These places are delivering comfort and tradition with fresh eyes and creative ideas, something that’s on full, satisfying display at Reed House.
Located in the Gothic Revival-style former Wesleyan Church manse on Lonsdale Street (and neighbour to bar Caretaker’s Cottage), Reed House delivers a menu liberally sprinkled with English classics – Welsh rarebit, Scotch eggs, roast chicken – with a charmingly restrained modern upgrade.
The fit-out takes a similar approach. There are timber floors and tables, half curtains and fresh flowers, walls minimally decorated with modern art, fireplaces to cosy things up on chilly nights and a sense of high-ceilinged airiness that takes advantage of the bluestone building’s historic bones. The former domestic space has you feeling right at home.
It’s hard not to when the rarebit lands in the form of a sourdough crumpet topped with lashings of grilled cheddar cheese, rich with Guinness, and mustard and accompanied by a bottle of Worcestershire sauce.
The hominess continues with ox tongue skewers, the thinly sliced grilled meat glazed with a ketchup flavoured with Davidson plum, which adds a wonderful sweet and sour element to the mix. A textbook roast chook not only comes with an excellent bread sauce but is also dusted with a textured za’atar of sesame seeds, oregano and saltbush.
More modern but no less comforting is a raw tuna dish textured with buckwheat and spiked with Aleppo chilli while zucchini flowers arrive stuffed with ricotta and smoked almonds and encased in a dreamily crunchy beer batter. It’s lovely stuff, especially when you finish with a dark and handsome rhubarb and chocolate custard tart, served with crème fraiche.
Both the cooking and the service are tight and confident at Reed House, not surprising given the pedigree of the owners, British-born chef Mark Hannell (Nopi, Three Blue Ducks) and Rebecca Baker (Capitano, The Everleigh).
Baker is also responsible for Reed’s smart, on-theme cocktail list (Builders Tea Punch mixes dark rum with tea, nutmeg and milk) and a well-priced wine list of Aussie and Euro labels from mostly small makers. The comfort factor is strong in this one, making Reed House an excellent escape from these times we’re living in.
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