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Quirky flavour is a hit with Gen Y

Quirky flavour is a hit with Gen Y

Another Gen Y from a nearby table swaggers over.

“What you doin’ later?” he asks Curl-Boy. “DJ-ing,” Curl-Boy replies.

Meanwhile, Curl-Boy’s girlfriend, apparently overcome with twentysomething ennui, retreats to her iPhone to tweet.

Welcome to Duke, a bistro run by Gen Ys for Gen Ys, which, in case you missed the zeitgeist, means it’s for Young People. It’s a place they describe as “quirky” and “humorous”. Others might just find it, well, youthful and not quite there yet.

Duke is the much-hyped venue for 2010 Young Chef of the Year Mitch Orr, who won the award while working at the excellent Sepia restaurant under top chef Martin Benn.

Here he has joined with several other young guns, including Thomas Lim, who has worked at Tetsuya’s, and three boys, Charles, Andy and Joel, who are in charge of “liquid refreshment”.

Their choice of venue is indeed quirky, with Duke occupying the first floor of the Flinders Hotel, on Darlinghurst’s Flinders St.

They have given the space a cheeky fit-out, with olive-green walls, dark polished floors, Asian lampshapes and colonial portraits, all of which lend it a clubbish, hunting-lodge feel.

It actually works, in a fun, cool, whimsical way.

The menu, too, is whimsical - too much so at times. It’s the sort of adventurous menu that pushes at the boundaries in a bid to be fresh and new. While it often succeeds, it sometimes doesn’t.

Like many Sydney lists, Dukes’ begins with tapas-sized plates and builds to larger dishes.

This you can only assume by the prices, for the menu descriptions themselves are unhelpful. Dishes are described in absolutely minimal terms; how many people, for instance, would know what “bonito, lardo, beetroot, farro” ($15) might be? It’s fish, with roasted baby beets, cured pork fat and the barley-like farro, all of which are fine albeit doused a little too liberally in vinegar.

Likewise, what, we wonder, is “school prawns spiced tea butter, croutons” ($6)? Well, it’s two tiny toasts topped with deliciously Indian spiced prawns. Of course it is!

Again: kingfish gin and tonic ($18). This one is a cerviche-style concoction of raw kingfish and cucumber cubes served in a tumbler with sour gin-and-tonic jelly and what seems to be sherbert. Hmm. Does it do it for us? We remain unconvinced.

There are some stellar dishes, though, including something called “tater tots, Duke gravy, edamame” ($15), which you may be surprised to learn is rosti (fried, shredded potato balls) atop slow-cooked meat (of indeterminate origin), plus luxe gravy, Japanese beans and pea shoots. The classic combo of potato and gravy is done beautifully, with a great flavour as well as texture.

Fried chicken wings ($10) are everywhere in Sydney now and Duke’s are fine: crisp, salty, moreish; while a Knickerbocker Glory ($12) for dessert is a triumph of mango, strawberries and panna cotta ice-cream.

The service is occasionally scatty but it’s great to have wine poured at the table, and terrific that half bottles are decanted. Plus, the dining room stays open until midnight, which is a bonus.

So it’s not all undergraduate humour after all.

In fact, you can’t help but have the impression that somebody with a big future is at play here.

But for now, my guess is it’s mainly those aged under 30 - or who’d like to be - who will love Duke Bistro.

Advice to others, it’s theirs, let them enjoy it.

All meals are paid for and visits are unannounced

[Thanks: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au]

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