Guillaume At Bennelong

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

Food was delicious, beautiful and well-executed. We had the degustation menu with matching wine. We left it to the sommelier to pick a mixture of French and Australian wine to match each course. We started with Yellowfin tuna wrapped with basil, the basil complimented the tuna well. The royale of asparagus with mud crab and truffle was a stand out! I love this dish!

Next was the scallops with watercress velounte and carviar, it was outstanding! The size of the scallops were huge and cooked to perfection. I felt that the John Dory was a bit overcooked. Those little pomme allumette (matchsticks pototoes), was delicate! I'm amazed how the chef managed to julienne pototoes into such fine sticks. Roasted chicken came with corn and asparagus puree and a huge thinly sliced piece of prigord truffles on top.

The last main was 500 days grain fed, marble 9+ rib eye wagyu beef in merlot sauce, it was the climax of the degustation. All the dishes were extremely good! I was very full by then as each dish was a good size.

For desserts, the menu read "Soup of seasonal fruit" and fresh raspberries. They immediately caught my attention as it is unusual to have fruits as the title line. Don't be deceived by the headlines as they were sublime! The first dessert came with lime stick-looking marshmallows, sorbet and soup of pomegranate and other fruits with a few bits of passionfruit.

The dish was delicate and I think the seeds of the passionfruit should be removed. The very last course was raspberries with pistachio gateau, vanilla cream and raspberry sorbet. Those raspberries were the best I've ever eaten, huge, juicy and sweet.

Service was top-notch! Very knowledgeable and friendly waitstaff and some of them were humourous. The sommelier did a great job in matching the wine to the dishes and we ended up with mostly French wine and a couple of Aussie wine.

We were lucky to have a table next to the window eventhough we didn't book months in advance. It wasn't the best table in the restaurant (the better ones are located towards the Harbour Bridge side) but it was great. I have to agree the noise level was moderately high as there was a function at the higher level and the noise travelled well with the high-ceiling. Well it's the Opera House and was built for that purpose. I didn't mind it at all. Thanks for the great night out!

Feb 24, 2012 

4.3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  2     

Extremely underwhelmed! At best the food was good bistro food but certainly nothing remotely outstanding. In fact it was extremely boring food and plating. The service was stiff and our petit four was practically thrown on the table with a sad little truffle nearly rolling off the plate. A very tired decore looking through dirty windows, crumb speckled carpet, old cutlery and ugly 80s plates. An iconic settling which is in dire need of a revamp. Of all the locations in Sydney this restaurant should be presenting cutting edge cuisine. $55 for a piece of barramundi on a dollop of cauliflower mash and a very pedestrian little mixed leaf salad is apaling. It's only a short distance across the water from Quay, but worlds apart. Very disappointing.

Jan 27, 2012 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Good fresh quality produce. Tuna, scallops, wagyu, chicken, truffle all very fresh, only let down was the fish as it was over cooked. Paris mash also a winner. The venue speaks for itself - awesome. We were lucky enough to get one of 5 tables that are window and facing the Harbour bridge. Service is good, wine list is pretty extensive.

Dec 27, 2011 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

Pre Opera Friday night 28 Oct. Food was fab to sublime I had beetroot salad and King Salmon, scallops and barra for my partner. Service smooth as the whole experience fantastic. I will go back for a full dinner service, well done guys.

Oct 31, 2011 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  10     

A friend and I went to Guillaume's for my birthday and did the pre-theatre. This is excellent value. I loved my seared scallop entree, as well as the beef main which was amazinnnngggg. The desserts were a bit of a let down, not that great compared to the rest of the meal, but for those views, spectacular service and three courses for $78 - it was a bargain!

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Oct 21, 2011 

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  7     

Visited here for dessert with my friend, gosh it was great view with awesome ambience. Food was tasty and rich in flavour. It was expensive but worth visiting for its ambience!

Oct 20, 2011 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

Took Mrs P to G at B for a bit of a splurge dinner after seeing French Food Safari and felt motivated to revisit. The booking process was pain free and we were seated at a front row table with a great view. Amazingly good celeriac entree followed by sous vide cooked steak with micro flowers etc for main then a choc-bomb dessert.

Mrs P had wonderful basil tuna roll thing for entree and a more palatable dessert. Sides were delicious. Although people should definitely take responsibility for their own eating. I found that the three dishes I had were really over the top on richness and taken together were just too much. The chocolate/orange dessert I had was good, even generous, especially with all the valhrona choc in it!, but so dense with chocolate that it was almost inedible. I'd recommend a visit but take care when ordering!

Sep 17, 2011 

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

We took a party of 6 for a Saturday night dinner, after booking well in advance. I found the ambience to be, well, lacking, in fact there was none. The noise level was so high I could not hear the diners on the other side of our table, and barely could hear the staff.

We waited an inordinately long time for water, bread and drinks, and the wine waiter, although pleasant enough, certainly had his mind on other things and barely gave me his attention.

We are regular fine diners and had high expectations of this establishment, and I am sad to say it was a disappointment, especially as I had a visiting chef and overseas guests with us.

To be honest I can't recall a single dish we had (it was more than 4 weeks ago) which speaks volumes to me of the menu. Of course the view is spectacular, or at least it was if I stood up and looked over the heads of other diners, as we could see precious little from our table.

I will give the place a second try to prove or disprove my last experience, and I will admit to having very high standards, but this is one of Sydney's top restaurants and it should be delighting all it's clients every time, especially at the price for their degustation and matched wines.

Sep 08, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  6     

I came here with high expectations (as you should for a two hat restaurant) and whilst the food was very good, when you go to a place like this you expect phenomenal, not just very good. An excellent wine list, great oysters and venison carpaccio was really let down by a bland steak. It does seem to be skating on reputation and the location, compared to some other Sydney restaurants that are not hatted at all. Enjoyable but not the great food experience I was expecting.

Sep 06, 2011 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

Guillaume At Bennelong is truly a wonderful experience. From the delicious food and illuminating city views to the attentive staff, no detail is passed over.

I had the pleasure of dining at Guillaume’s before attending a show at the Opera House with my girlfriend. Being short on time we chose from the Pre-Theatre Dinner menu and not only was the selection of dishes mouth watering the price was also very reasonable. $66 for 2 courses or $78 for 3 courses. The service was also fantastic. A waiter was always available when needed and insightful when asked any questions.

The restaurant itself is amazing. Not often do you get to dine inside one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world. Inside the restaurant the lighting provides the perfect mood for a relaxing dinner and even on a full night it is still relatively quiet.

Overall it was very enjoyable and well worth the visit. I will most certainly be returning in the near future.

Aug 29, 2011