When you’re flipping through a menu and you see a whole page headed ‘Oysters and Caviar’, you are most definitely speaking our language!
The Dry Dock in Balmain, Sydney, proudly serves Sydney Rock oysters from the South Coast of New South Wales, the menu describing them as having “a lasting deep, rich, sweet flavour unlike any other”.
Established in 1857 and extensively transformed in 2023, the much-loved hotel is Balmain’s oldest continuously licensed pub. As well as its public bar and lounges, it boasts a sit-up oyster bar and Dining Room that has become a drawcard in its own right.
In the style of a modern European bistro and grill, the Dining Room offers a 400-strong wine list and an expansive menu including a superb seafood platter with Sydney Rock oysters, yellowfin tuna, prawns, Balmain bugs, and steamed mussels.
But it’s the ‘Oyster and Caviar’ menu that catches our eye with its suggested Champagne matches: NV Lallier Réflexions R.020 Brut, NV Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, NV Krug Grande Cuvée, and 2013 Dom Perignon.
Oysters are available across the venues, priced at $7 each, served with a Champagne mignonette. Not surprisingly, the Black Pearl White Sturgeon ‘Calvisius’ caviar takes the entire experience up another notch, at considerably more rarefied prices.
The Dry Dock is a short stroll from the Balmain Ferry Wharf, which is a short ferry ride from Sydney’s Circular Quay. It’s a beautiful journey on one of the world’s great harbours, and while you’re enjoying the ride, you might like to reflect on the fact that the harbour was once awash with indigenous Sydney Rock oysters.
The Dry Dock Public House and Dining Room
22 Cameron Street, Balmain
Sydney NSW 2041
Australia
Tel: +61 (0)2 9555 1306
www.thedrydock.com.au