How to begin a meal at Ruby Rabbit: a Cooper James (tequila, Licor 43, crushed lime, apple and lemon juice; $18) and a bowl of compulsive sweet potato fries ($4) while you peruse the menu. Glance around at the place, hung with birdcage lampshades, wearing a ruby red complexion, adorned with mirrors and wallscapes of poppy fields. From their website: “Providing a service that eludes into the unexpected whilst accompanied with the food favourites we all desire and an ambience we deny to believe” – an admirable sentiment, albeit one that sounds as though it was composed after a dozen Cooper Jameses. And maybe it was. This place is as suited to an early supper as it is to a drunken end-of-night debrief. It’s like being in a garden, observes my companion, though she’s already deep into a Cooper James.
Ruby Rabbit has been on the Darlinghurst scene for many a year; there are ancient Mayan calendars that foretell its changes of ownership and relaunches. You couldn’t want for a much better spot, a sequin’s throw from Taylor Square. The aim here is quality, lovingly prepared food in a casual dining setting. The Rabbit, rubbing its foot for luck, is keen to try things. A point of difference is that you can take home the sumptuous, made-in-house infused oils, balsamics, jams and relishes it uses ($12.50-$18.50) – par exemple, a sweet, zesty lime balsamic or a lemon oil that makes baked bread taste like madeira cake.
The mains are (in the main) priced affordably for this part of town, although the sirloin steak ($26) is a little smaller and thinner than the price demands. The dish is redeemed somewhat by finger-thick chips sprinkled with Tuscan seasoning. An intriguing chicken salad with blood orange balsamic, strawberries and crispy garlic crouton ($18) promises a great deal but falls just short, the livelier fruit flavours overwhelmed by a too-acidic base. More pleasing to the palate is the sumptuous grilled salmon fillet (also $26), the flesh moist and tender, infused with lemon oil and chilli jam and resting on a bed of watercress and baby chat potatoes.
This new incarnation has all the elements in place to be a success, and seems to be working hard at achieving it. It’s not quite there yet, though give it time – in a few months this review could be terribly out of date.
Ruby Rabbit, 231 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney
(02) 9331 0633
Wed-Sun, 5pm ’til late
