Firedoor Sydney

Where the Food Sizzles and the Service Snoozes

Firedoor Interior

Let’s start with the obvious. Firedoor is not a restaurant. It’s a temple of flame, a shrine to smoke, a cult where everything, including your sense of time, is slowly roasted over sustainably sourced hardwood.

Always good to start with the food and the food is fire. Literally and metaphorically. Chef Lennox Hastie’s whole schtick is “no gas, no electricity, just vibes and embers,” and somehow it works. He’s basically the pyromaniac Gordon Ramsay never had the guts to become, as if everything is lovingly torched by a woodland spirit who forages and probably wears linen.

Then there's the service, which if I am being generous, feels like an afterthought. Not quite rude, not quite offensive, just barely even a spark. It’s as if the front-of-house team is also cooking over coals and takes a solid 45 minutes or so to warm them up. You could spend longer trying to get someone’s attention than the cow did ageing before it hit your plate. Enthusiastic but scattered and not okay in a venue with this kind of reputation.

Want a top-up of your wine? You may need to climb across tables and flag down a waiter using interpretive dance. Got dietary requirements? Mention them three times and hope Mercury isn’t in retrograde. It’s all part of the Firedoor challenge. How much transcendental grilled duck can you enjoy while questioning whether you’ve been ghosted by your server?

Our second issue is value. Five courses for $200pp, not bad, but then if you want some decent steak, get out the platinum card. Add at least another $100pp. Top that off with a $200pp premium wine pair, or $145 for standard, and its at least a $1000 dinner by the time you get an Uber home and a cocktail on the way. The poor service does not offer value, at all, nor does it justify the price.

But let’s return to the flavour pyrotechnics, because they are next level! The aged steak is so smoky it could star in a cowboy film and the carrots are sexier than a Tinder match with a good Spotify playlist. Everything is kissed by fire, but not in that angry, cremated way. It's more a smoky whisper saying, "You’ll dream about this dish in six years." Hastie is a clever chef, no doubt about it, but one wonders if the shine is coming off and the reputation alone is paying the bills.

The wine list is curated for people who know words like “carbonic maceration” and use them unironically. But ask the sommelier and they’ll guide you with an enthusiasm that makes up for the rest of the staff’s existential detachment. We were okay with choosing our own but the wine pair for the novice (albeit wealthy novice), might be an idea.

Bring a friend with good conversation, because you’ll have time, and don’t come hangry or you might black out halfway through a smoked quail leg and wake up gnawing on the table.

Firedoor can be found at 23-33 Mary St Surry Hills

Open Lunch Friday Reservations from 12pm

Open DinnerTuesday to Saturday Reservations from 5.30pm

https://firedoor.com.au/