Another hit restaurant for Australia’s Rockpool group, Sydney’s Spice Temple brings the same formidable attention to detail and insouciant sense of style found in the Rockpool and Rosetta venues, but applied to modern Chinese cuisine.
That means some seriously delicious, aromatic dishes such as braised cumin lamb and fermented chilies with steamed bread pockets; or steamed flathead, Jiangxi style, with pickled mustard greens and turnip with chili.
And, as ever with the Rockpool group, it also means a seriously fine and joyously eclectic wine list, but in this case confined to a concise 100 bottles.
The self-imposed limit means there’s not a wasted bottle on a list that is particularly strong in aromatic whites (from Marlborough’s Te Whare Ra Toru to Rheinhessen’s Keller Riesling RR), but which is filled with wines of all styles from talented producers, whether it’s Abbazia di Novacella Lagrien from Alto-Adige or Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon from Margaret River.