3 Weeds Restaurant

LOCATION
Rozelle is an inner west suburb 15 minutes from the CBD, close to Balmain.

PROFILED BY DEGROOTS MEDIA
3 Weeds Hotel, which started putting beers in hands and (not entirely coincidentally) smiles on faces in 1881, has seen its fair share of transitions. It spent its youth in a rapidly-expanding Sydney and a few wild years as a live music joint hosting the likes of AC/DC. These days if you venture down Evans Street into the shy-looking establishment you’ll find a pub with loads of style and just a touch of comfort-yielding spunk. Once inside you can choose from a number of distinctive areas – a relaxed front bar, rustic back bar and bistro, leather-clad and library-esque wine bar, mod-chic lounge and chirpy “Living Room”. But the foodie crowds head straight for the back of the hotel where The Restaurant sits serenely with soft creams and beiges, embroided cushions, comfortable banquets and muted lighting somehow striking a balance between refinement and relaxation.

However, regardless of how stylish, comfortable or intimate The Restaurant may be, this is not what keeps the crowds coming back. Even the wine list studded with offerings from France, the USA, New Zealand and some of Australia’s finest vineyards can’t take the credit. This restaurant draws the crowds for one very good reason – its inventive modern Australian cuisine. Head chef Leigh McDivitt who took over from John Evans earlier in the year presides over a seasonal menu that features entrees like ceviche of kingfish with chilli and lime dressing and horseradish ice-cream and mains like black Angus fillet with Jerusalem artichoke puree, roasted eschalots and a confit king brown and shimiji mushrooms, and (for the vegetarians) an open mushroom lasagne with baby vegetables and porcini veloute. A recently-introduced Sunday lunch which opens up the a la carte menu from 12pm for relaxed Sunday noshing, has also struck a note with restaurant-addicted foodies.

Agnes Gajewska