Photo credit | Kitti Gould
We are thrilled to announce that we are now including hot newcomer Ezra on our Potts Point dining walk route. So far the Baklava ice cream for the dessert course, accompanied by a stunning Gilbert late harvest Reisling, Orange, New South Wales has been a big hit with our local guests.
You can practically feel the love as you step inside Ezra. Maybe it’s the striking living sculpture of olive branches, sun-bleached ferns and natives installed by Tracey Deep opposite the dark-wood bar, or Whitney Houston’s How Will I Know playing in the background.
Whatever it is, co-owners Nick and Kirk Mathews-Bowden have dedicated their beautiful new 90-seater bar and restaurant to Tel Aviv’s cosmopolitan dining scene. But the couple has had a long affair with Potts Point, too – they used to co-own French brasserie Bistro Rex around the corner, and they live just a stone’s throw from Ezra’s front courtyard. Before that, they were working at steakhouse Hawksmoor in London. They became enamored with the city’s melting-pot of Levantine cuisine.
“Based on a couple of really cool restaurants like Palomar, we decided to go to Tel Aviv. It was electric and we were absolutely swept up by it all. We were going to so many bars and restaurants there, asking people where their favourite places were. The list got so big we ended up taking a second trip. ”
They always knew they’d do something with the inspiration back in Australia, but they had to do it with grace. “It’s important to mention that we’re not Israeli or Jewish,” adds Kirk. “We have so much respect for the culture and don’t think there’s a huge amount of food [in Sydney] done the way we want to do it here.”
They’ve teed up well-respected chef Ben Sears, of Moon Park and Paper Bird fame, to work in the open kitchen – and even he admits he’s a wildcard choice considering his Asian-leaning resume. “We’re inspired by Tel Aviv, but saying that also gives us a little bit of wriggle-room in the kitchen,” he says.
Like Tel Aviv itself, Sears’s menu reflects the diaspora of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) and Sephardic (Iberian, Mediterranean and Levantine) Jewish staples. Think pickles with meze and flatbread, and hearty vegetarian dishes such as roasted cauliflower dressed with liberal amounts of grated haloumi and punchy za’atar imported from Palestine. Sears is using charcoal to grill meat dishes such as a half chicken with preserved lemon and toum (garlic sauce), but he’s still waiting for his tagines to arrive (“they’re on a boat somewhere”).
He goes rogue with (not-kosher) oysters and an Ashkenazi take on a Gilda pintxo, skewering kingfish pastrami, green olive and pickled chilli on a toothpick. Then there’s the whole roasted flathead.
“I marinate it in a chickpea miso from Tasmania,” says Sears. “It’s the same [miso] I used at Paper Bird, so it’s a nice little bridge between what I was doing before and what I’m doing now. Going from East Asia to the east-Med has been a bit of a jump.”
Famed LA Times food critic Jonathan Gold once wrote “you can’t fake hummus”, and Ezra’s is the real deal. It’s served like an Israeli breakfast, with a smoked soft-boiled egg that you break over fresh radish, olive oil and a bed of garlicky chickpea puree. It’s also the dish the team is most proud of, along with the herbaceous falafel served fresh from the fryer, and the baklava ice-cream sandwich, made with caramelised filo, pistachio and burnt-honey parfait.
Nestled on Kellett Street with al fresco courtyards – one at the front and one out back – are perfect for a Tel Aviv Betida (a house-blended cocktail of salted yoghurt and passionfruit) when the jasmine is in bloom, and the long, narrow interior is a beautiful space for communal dining year-round.
New York-based designer Rosie Rainbow commissioned the show-stopping archway, handmade by a tiler in Beirut, for the main dining room, and a pink mural out the front, and illuminated arches at the entrance and framing the bar continue the theme.
We are looking forward to many more great dining moments at Ezra.
*Part of this article originally appeared in Broadsheet written by Dan Cunningham
