Becasse

Ph: 9283 3440; 204 Clarence St, Sydney 2000 www.becasse.com.au

Modern European, $$$, *** for Ambience, Good Wine List
Open Lunch Mon-Fri noon-3pm Dinner Mon-Sat 6pm-10pm; Licensed; AE DC MC V
Chef (Justin North & James Metcalfe, 2007-11-3) Owner (Georgia & Justin North, 2007-11-3)

Mietta's Review
The star of this show is Georgia North, the wife of chef Justin, who manages the front of house and is the sommelier. She's got real class. Her businesslike, well-pitched manner and all-seeing eye carry the room. A demonstration of the fact that though there are lots of good chefs very few people can manage a room. This young woman can. A neat, black-suited figure always there on all of the restaurant's three levels attending to every detail of the service. The other staff are female, young, enthustiastic and awfully nice rather than blindingly efficient. The room itself is adequate more than inspired. It's a narrow space with a mezzanine and a lower level below. One wall is curtained, the other sparsely decorated with some impressive sculptures. It's lit (and the ceiling lowered), by three large crystal coronets. Augmented with down-lights they provide soft, non-directional illumination to the light coloured room. The food press have devoted many column inches to the glories of Justin North's food. Perhaps they overstate its quality. Not that there is anything wrong with the food, quite the reverse. It's just that there are some pretty formidable cooks working in Sydney and he has a little way to go before being the best of them. Together, this couple will in time become a major force in the industry.

Other published opinions

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: *** "The depth of talent at Becasse, whether it's waiting, wine or cooking, is considerable, from chef/front of house partners Justin and Georgia North down to the plate-runners. Depth of taste on those plates, meanwhile, and the depth of vision that conceives them, is what separates the Becasse brand of mod-Euro from its competitors"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 17/20, Two Hats "Becasse has it all: from beautifully crafted comfort food in a sophisticated setting to friendly, professional service and a wine list that's a great read in its own right"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: *** "Speaking softly and carrying a big stick s chef Justin North's modus operandi. While his fine diner, the sole representative of serious classical cooking this end of the CBD, is all quietly smiling service and low-key good looks, the menu and wine list give it t you with both barrels"

Sydney Eats 2008 "On the website you'll read a bold statement from chef Justin North: "If everyone likes everything you do, you have become too safe, too common, too boring." Bravo, and bring it on"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2007 Score: 17/20, Two Hats "Restaurant of the Year You know a restaurant is special when the flavours linger in your memory. And so it is with Becasse, a gorgeous, sexy, all- class, very grown-up dining room, from the Swarovski crystal-trimmed circular chandeliers that shimmer in the subdued lighting to the organic bronze sculpture on the wall."

Gourmet Traveller 2007 Restaurant Guide Score: *** "Becasse is the big-night-out city restaurant we thought we'd lost when Banc closed, though with this level of service and attention to detail, not to mention a sense of scope and urban occasion, it wouldn't be out of place in Manhattan or Mayfair."

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "What a difference context makes. If you really concentrate, you'll see that Justin North's food hasn't, at heart, changed that much since he and front-of-house partner Georgia North left pleasant low-key digs in Surry Hills for this new capital-C city address in mid-2005."

SMH Good Living Eat Out Mathew Evans score 17/20, 16/8/05 "Becasse has blossomed into a gorgeous, plush city restaurant. Increased prices reflect the accoutrements and the space."

SMH Good Food Guide 2005 Two Hats Score 16/20 "It's the first venture of a talented young couple: classically trained chef Justin North, and Georgia Lawrence-Slater who oversees the floor. Together they ensure that the running of the cocoa-walled, aubergine-carpeted, square room is as smooth as the amuse bouche of asparagus soup with chervil chantilly. The soup's concentrated flavour is a preview of the seriously good food to come."

Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide 2005 ** "With a corner location and discreet signage that is immediately French, the buzzy mood is set as you enter the room with its open kitchen and chefs working full pace. The menu continues the fiction that you have somehow stepped from Surry Hills directly into the Marais"

Sydney Eats 2005 "Reminiscent of an urban French restaurant, all earthy colours and warm ambience, Becasse may stand at the declasse end of Surry Hills but Justin North's cooking is way ahead of the curve. Suave, soignee yet relaxed, this cosy room serves some of the best food in town."

Daily Telgraph NSW Restaurant Guide 2004, Best French Restaurant, Chef Justin North's classical training shines through in this haven for Francophiles.

SMH GFG 2004, Score 16/20, 2 Hats-Really Lovely, Bookings essential,'There's an open kitchen, a bar, Venetian blinds filtering out an unslightly strip of low-rent Surry Hills-otherwise it's all about service and classic French food with a modern, sharp edge.'

Gourmet Traveller Guide 2004-two balck starts for casual dining, excellent wine list- details updated- Justin North one of sydney's top young chefs. simple and unadorned restaurant, all focus on the food. menu changes daily, Georgia Lawrence-Slater- wife and business partner front of house, 7 course degustation menu is excellent value, wine list frnacophili but not expensive.

The Weekend Australian, Magazine, Food & Wine, Katrina Strickland, 12-13 July 2003. The menu is of the less-is-more school but the combinations of flavours are certainly excellent. The degustation menu is perfect to sample seven of chef Justin North's offerings. The desserts were good but just OK, when compared with mains and entrees.

SMH Short black doing well, friendly service etc

SMH 29.1.02 Eat Out Matthew Evans Score 15 out of 20

SMH 12/12/01 Georgia laurence