‘Make a mess’: This beachside bolthole puts the fun into fine dining

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“Make a mess,” says the menu. I’m happy to oblige, but there’s a problem. This isn’t some crab shack on the beach with newspaper covering the table. Instead, I’m on a gentle curve of banquette, elbows on finely textured pale taupe linen. There’s no way I’m going to make a mess. Because, you know, table manners.

Putting aside the unusual name, Table Manners brings a new level of dining to Bronte’s shopping strip, more associated with simple, sunny cafes.

Alex Cameron, part of the founding crew of Andrew Becher’s Franca and Parlar in Potts Point, has partnered with head chef Luke Churchill and general manager John Breen to create a come-hither space that leads from a stool-lined cocktail bar to circular booths and a genuinely elegant dining room, along with one of Sydney’s most considered private dining rooms.

As interior designer, the unstoppable Blainey North has created an ode to taupe, with fine textured linen tablecloths and screens, statement lampshades, candlelight, silver ice buckets and gentle paintings from local artist Bec Fernon that wash across the walls. Nooks, crannies, linen screens and flirty lamps interact to produce an almost calming background to the run-off-its-feet restaurant.

Cameron’s wine list is another good playpen with lots to enjoy.

Churchill’s menu is similarly serious and playful, running from sultry little snacks and individual, well-composed dishes built around fish or steak, to big-ticket, kick-up-your-heels items.

Snacks set the scene, with a tuna toro toast ($12) of hand-chopped tuna belly on a finger of brioche tickled with grated horseradish; and a crunch-then-squish aligot potato croquette ($7) kicked with rocket pesto.

Standard contemporary menu items such as beef tartare ($24) get an elegant upgrade reminiscent of nouvelle cuisine; the grass-fed sirloin and jaunty cap of fried quail egg encircled by tiny dots of shiitake emulsion and onion soubise, with a side of wispy little pommes allumettes.

The playful stuff can sometimes jar. There’s a Moreton Bay bug club sandwich of nicely cooked tail, bug mayo and greens ($54) that really should be on the bar menu, for two to share with a glass of wine. The bug is fresh and sweet, but it seems out of place at the table, like a scruffy T-shirt in a sea of buttoned shirts.

Puglia’s spaghetti all’assassina ($88) answers the “make a mess” invitation with ease. The technique is unusual in that the dried pasta is cooked in its sauce rather than in water (although the kitchen does briefly blanch it first) so it absorbs the tomato, garlic and chilli rather than the water. Rich and oily, it’s chewy and scorchy, the strands entangled like a barrel of monkeys. Three giant king prawns lie on top, scorched from the grill; a meal in themselves.

Cameron’s wine list is another good playpen with lots to enjoy, from a balanced 2021 Anne-Sophie Dubois “Les Cocottes” ($20/98) from Beaujolais to a medium-bodied 2021 Spinifex Miette Shiraz from the Barossa ($15/$76), along with a rare showing of the acclaimed pinot noir of Bass Phillip from Victoria.

The more classic main courses are composed with their own vegetable accompaniments; many of which are “tournee”, turned with a paring knife into smaller multi-faceted pieces. It’s a vanity that harks back to the days when chefs wanted you to know how much trouble they went to in the kitchen, something the French have “turned” into an art form.

Crisp-skinned red mullet on sauce Americaine with fregola ($46) is a lovely, simple dish; and lamb rump in a pond of jus ($47) is balanced with pea shoots, baby peas and double-peeled broad beans.

A pavlova ($19) shows off grapefruit curd, orange cream and juicy citrus against crisp meringue, and a lemon polenta madeleine ($7), made to Cameron’s mother’s recipe, is the best way to end.

And yes, despite myself, I made a mess, leaving behind a trail of polenta crumbs and scarlet splats of chilli oil on that beautiful linen, as well as on my shirt. Mission accomplished.