Late one evening we stumbled up the inconspicuous stairs to the side of the Flinders hotel; on a mission to make it to Duke and duke it out with the promise of awesome food, imagine the horror to be told that we had no chance of getting a table that evening. Not too disenchanted we thought we would save it for another night, we here at the Empty Fridge are used to the new and cool places around Surry Hills not taking bookings, Duke being one such cool place. Luckily though one of us Empty Fridgers had the sense to call ahead a few weeks later (good work Gianna.) and managed to get a table at a reasonable hour on a balmy Friday night.
Having heard nothing but good things about Duke we were really keen to try it out. Not only does it have one of the coolest names but the food has been touted as some of the best in the Sydney food and bar scene. With fried chicken on the menu and plenty of alcohol, it's pretty hard to get any better of a mix. Somethings are meant to be together, it is our belief that fried chicken and anything alcoholic just works and makes the world go around. However there is more to the Duke menu than fried chicken - with ex Tet's chef Thomas Lim and 2010's Young Chef of the year Mitch Orr in the helm they truly keep things exciting. There were a number of delectable dishes that are well worth making the trip out to try including Smoked Eel with Saba and Pancetta but being indecisive we relied solely on our waitress' suggestions.
So what does the Empty Fridge duo do best when they are at a bar or anywhere licenced at all? Well they order a drink or four of course but being on their best behaviour (both of us had made the mistake of driving) we ordered some Monteith's Apple Cider ($8.50) and an Italian Highball - Campari, grapefruit and Fever Tree Tonic ($16). Refreshing drinks for a warm night and before anyone makes the assumption - the photo above is a bottle of water; served in a gin bottle, keeping in line with the Duke's left of centre approach to the dining experience. There is a wordly wine selection available, plus a mean cocktail list to match. Why oh Why did we drive?
The bistro has a really cool vibe with a mixture of cool lights adorned with old veuve bottles and of course a boars head by the bar. It really is a pretty cool place and rightly so given that it's a right smack bang in the middle of Surry Hills hipster scene, with heaps of Sydney's cool kids coming out to eat and have a drink. Yes even Sydney's hipsters eat believe it or not, how can't they when the food on offer is as cool as Duke's.
