Hartsyard is a restaurant that has been on my wishlist since like forever! Since opening its doors about 2 years, Hartsyard has received a lot of praise and accolades for its share style American cuisine, including a chef hat from the SMH Good Food Guide. Hartsyard is run by the husband-wife team of Gregory Llewellyn, who manages the kitchen, and Naomi Hart, who manages the front of house. As none of the members of EMC2 had dined at Hartsyard, we all decided that this needed to be rectified.
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| The Grifter Pale Ale ($10) and doggy snacks, I mean chicken jerky. Seriously though, the chicken jerky was pretty delicious! |
The share style menu is divided into seeds, the lighter meals, and feeds, the heavier meals. Virtually everything on the menu is made in-house, from the hot sauce that can be found at every table to the chicken jerky that I munched on as I waited for the rest of dining group to arrive. And much of the vegetables come from their own garden and greenhouse too.
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| Oyster Po' Boy ($9 each) |
I’ve
never had po' boys before but
boy were these deliriously good! The English muffins were soft and fluffy
on the inside while staying crisp on the outside. Each
muffin is filled with deep fried oysters coated in a delightfully
crunchy batter and a creamy Old Bay coleslaw that was both creamy and
fresh. It was a good thing I was dining with 4 other
people, because I could have easily eaten a whole tray of these! I am sure to
return to Hartsyard soon to have more of these oyster po'
boys!
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| Raw mushroom and artichoke salad ($26) |
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| Duck, duck, duck ($34) |
Duck, duck, duck as the name suggests consisted of 3 different kinds of duck: crumbed and deep fried rillettes, parfait, and shaved foie gras. Encased within each
crispy croquette were delicious shreds of soft duck meat, cooked in its fat.
The parfait and shaved foie gras elements added a richness to the dish that was well balanced and never
overpowering. The combination of mulberry and lemon jam with the richness of duck, duck, duck was a delightful one. Along with the Oyster Po' Boy, this was my favourite dish of the night.
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| Crispy pig tails ($21) |
Unfortunately the crispy pig tails were a bit of an anti-climax, coming in after three dishes that have set the bar high. Two crispy croquettes were filled with soft, rich and gelatinous pig tails bits, flavours and textures that I didn't make much of an impression on me. The pig tail croquettes were served with a buttermilk dressing, radish and pickle slices to help cut through the fattiness. We were encouraged by the waitress to eat the croquettes with the housemade hot sauce that can be found at every table. Unfortunately we all forget to take this advice (probably because we were too busy worrying about photographing our food, as shown by the next pic lol).
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| Food bloggers in action - cameras eat first hehe! |
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| Ricotta gnudi ($32) |
The ricotta gnudi is one of the latest dishes to be included onto the Hartsyard menu. The ricotta gnudi were like a softer, creamier version of gnocchi. Butter poached prawns were well cooked: juicy and springy. The gnudi and prawns were swimming in a pool of crab bisque, with its wonderful aroma wafting through the air as soon as the plate hit the dining table. Rounding out the dish were confit tomatoes and grilled fennel. Yet another solid dish!
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| Pulled pork ($33) |
I am going to
start by saying that I don’t remember having pulled pork this good
anywhere else in Sydney. If you love pork, just order it! A brick of
pulled pork is served with a slab of maple bacon riding on top.
The pulled pork was brined and
smoked and the smoky flavour from the hickory wood was very prominent. The pulled pork was so
soft, falling apart easily with the pull of a fork. And the maple bacon, which was a thick pork belly slice, was to die
for! The maple glaze was sweet and sticky; the bacon was deliciously
fatty and melted in the mouth. To the side were green apple pieces and
yoghurt to provide acidity and tartness to balance the richness of the
pork. There were also ultra-crunchy pork rind chips to add
a third dimension of pig to the dish.
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| Poutine ($26) |
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| Fried chicken ($29) |
The fried chicken at Hartsyard has a reputation for being one of the best
fried chickens in Sydney and I was delighted to discover that the
chicken lived up to its high praise. The chicken is brined, smoked and
coated in a crispy, raggedy, double (yes,
double) coating of batter. The flesh is well seasoned, juicy and
succulent. There’s a drumstick, thigh and breast. The fried chicken
also comes with a buttermilk biscuit and a creamy, low country gravy
studded with coarse chunks of sausage. I have never been
a big fan of American style biscuits (or scones) as I find them dense
(at least the ones that I have tried).
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| This week's Hartsyard soft serve, a collaboration with Blackstar Pastry! |
The
desserts, designed by Andrew Bowden (or Andy Bowdy, lord pastry master,
as proclaimed on his Instagram page), are worthy of a trip to Hartsyard
alone. Each week Andy Bowdy comes up with a different soft serve
flavour and a pie of the week. We wanted
to order the pie and the soft serve but unfortunately we were informed
that the pie is only offered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we would have to return another day to try the pie.
Any Sydney foodie that has an Instagram account would have noticed
that every second picture on their feed last Sunday would have been the
Hartsyard x Blackstar Pastry crossover, watermelon cake soft serve, from
the Newtown Fair. Unfortunately for me,
whilst every foodie and their dog (so the saying goes) was enjoying this
creation, I wasn’t free that day, so I missed out.
Luckily for me, Hartsyard answered the call from Sydney foodies (which included those that were bummed to have missed out in the first place and those that just can’t get enough) and made the watermelon cake soft serve their special flavour of the week! The soft serve was served in a cone too (the one at the Newtown Fair was served in a cup). And it just so happened that we already had a reservation at Hartsyard! We decided to order 3 soft serves to share between the 5 of us, seeing as the soft serve is quite large.
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| Watermelon cake soft serve ($16) |
Verdict
Highlight: The oyster Po' Boys are finger licking good! You will want to have more than one though.
Lowlight: Watermelon cake soft serve is only on the menu for one week.
Overall: You can pretty much forget about your diet if you're on one. The food at Hartsyard is resolutely American: big portioned, fried, rich, comforting and seriously delicious. You will leave well-fed, or in a food coma like we did! 7.5/10 (Great)
HartsyardLowlight: Watermelon cake soft serve is only on the menu for one week.
Overall: You can pretty much forget about your diet if you're on one. The food at Hartsyard is resolutely American: big portioned, fried, rich, comforting and seriously delicious. You will leave well-fed, or in a food coma like we did! 7.5/10 (Great)
Contact no: 02 8068 1473
Website: http://hartsyard.com.au/
