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Head to Spain’s Basque Country via Sydney’s Surry Hills for small plates of bold flavours, a deep-dive into Spanish wines and sherries, and peerless hospitality.
Lennox Hastie’s flagship restaurant, Firedoor, famous for its raw-flame, gas- and electricity-free kitchen, as well as its central role in the Netflix special Chef’s Table: BBQ, has become the ultimate Sydney trophy booking. To secure a spot you have to hover your finger over the booking button for the moment the new month’s reservation openings are released and then grab that 5:30pm Wednesday slot before anyone else. At least the advance notice gives you a bit of time to sell off a few family heirlooms so you can pay the bill when you get there.
The antidote? The glorious Gildas, Hastie’s brand-new Basque-style wine bar, which has opened a few doors up from its glamorous older sibling. The food and drinks are sublime, as you’d expect from Hastie and his head chef Zach Elliott-Crenn, but it’s all much more low-key and accessible. Not only are half the seats saved for walk-ins each night, but you can barrel your way through most of the small plates, a good few slugs of sherry, and leave with your wallet’s dignity intact.
Hastie’s vision for Gildas was that it would feel like the sort of cosy taverna you find in Spain’s Basque Country, where you call in when the mood strikes and order anything from a simple glass of manzanilla sherry and a couple of Gildas – the classic Basque bar snack of an olive, anchovy and a neon-green pickled guindilla pepper wriggled onto a toothpick – to a bottle of wine and enough small plates to make a meal. The elegance of the room probably clicks things up a notch on the “cosy” scale – it’s all marble and wood, curves and banquettes, and exquisite crystalware – but Hastie has definitely nailed the sense of welcome. That’s thanks to two things: some of the best staff in the business (many have worked for Hastie for years, or at least some arm of the Fink empire that owns Firedoor along with other Sydney big-hitters like Quay and Bennelong), and the open-plan kitchen where you can watch Hastie and his team make the magic happen.
The sense of ease extends to sitting times – while you may need to vacate your space if things are really busy, the staff will do their best to let you linger if you can’t resist that extra glass of wine or the urge to order a third dessert.
Sherry! If you don’t know much about this mysterious, minerally, sometimes sweet, sometimes a little saline fortified wine, this is the place to explore it. Your best bet is to ask sommelier Benoit Jackman or one of his team to select a trio of styles for you: a light and salty fino, a slightly richer but still briny amontillado, and a darker, moodier oloroso. When sherry follows an olive in your mouth in quick succession, it’s a wonderful thing.
If sherry isn’t really your scene, there’s also a stupendous list of Spanish wines alongside Australian examples made with Spanish grapes or in a Spanish style. Again, ask for guidance – it’s one of the more complex and granular winemaking countries so assistance can really help clarify things – and use this as a chance to dig deep into this really exciting vinous region.
