I would guess that the reason I didn’t review Dead Ringer before is because I’ve only had cocktails here. But what cocktails! An interesting selection with enticing descriptions in a fun, casual, hip atmosphere. I sent friends here who told me they’ve been back more than once to flirt with the cute barmen. But finally, I managed to get a meal here, and it didn’t disappoint.
Anyone remember the pop-up restaurant that Broadsheet put on on Danks Street? We went and found it an interesting concept, that there were ‘hit’ dishes from restaurants from all over Sydney. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I do remember that one of our favourite dishes came from Dead Ringer.
In any case, an Australian, a Swede and a Canadian meet at Dead Ringer. We split three mains, the gnocchi with wilted greens, smoked mozzarella and pine nuts ($26), the blue-eyed cod with pepperonata and charred salsa ($33) and charred flat-iron steak with a celeriac remoulade ($32), which I think was our favourite and the only one I got a photo of (I think I forgot to take photos as we were having such a good time).
It seemed to be a perfect representation of what’s going on in Sydney at the moment: tasty, well-considered share plates, not fussy but full of flavour, slightly unusual combos and great drinks. My only regret: we should have ordered a number of sides too. I was still hungry!