Good for what ails you @ The Aylesbury

We are onto a good thing in this city - it seems like every couple of days you hear about a new place opening, each more exciting than the next.  What is really interesting is that we are seeing the proliferation of "sister" restaurants - where a big name restaurant leverages off the name of their flagship eatery and uses it to open a sibling.  This has been successfully done by top end players Vue De Monde with Bisto Vue (and others) Movida with Movida Aqui, to name but just a couple.

But now we are moving into the next phase of this era, where some of the less famous (but certainly not less deserving of praise), are taking the plunge and opening up sibling ventures.

One of those recent ventures is The Aylesbury in the theatre district of the CBD - younger sister to Gertrude Street's Anada.  Just like any sequel, I would have thought that there would a risk of failure, but parents Jesse and Vanessa Gerner have done a superb job with this place.

The venue is divided into a downstairs dining room / bar and an upstairs bar with a beautiful view of the CBD skyline. The food here is sophisticated, generous and overall exceptional - I like that the menu offers a great selection and that the waiter was more than keen to talk us through the items on offer. The highlight was the steak tartare served with quail egg (pictured above) - the meat was beautifully spiced and salty.

Almost equally as good was the "Hoggart" (which is lamb between 1 and 2 years old) served with a hearty aubergine puree.  On the sides, the highlight (although not for those looking to loose some pre-summer kg's) was roasted potatoes in duck fat, which was balanced nicely by a light salad with radicchio and green beans.

One of the best parts of this The Aylesbury is that despite not having a "no bookings" policy, we walked straight in and were seated straight away.  For those waiting 2.5 hours outside Chin Chin or balancing on the stairs at Mamasita for 45 minutes, it's time to look beyond to other locales.