Sails
Sails stands at the foot of Henry Lawson Avenue on the Lavender Bay foreshore, a few steps from the McMahons Point ferry wharf. The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are directly across the water, and the crossing from Circular Quay takes eight minutes, which makes arriving by water the natural choice. It is a North Shore address with the city skyline for a view, and the boats moored off the foreshore in the foreground.
The cooking is contemporary Australian and led by the season: local produce, handled with restraint, with little between the ingredient and the plate. Fine wines run alongside, chosen to complement that kind of food. The restaurant is known for doing simple things exceptionally well. Menus move as the produce does, so what is on in July was not on in January.
Lunch runs from midday to 2.30 on weekdays and to 3 on Saturday and Sunday; dinner is served every night from 6pm to 9pm. Bookings are taken through SevenRooms or by phone. Half the room can be reserved for a group while the rest of the restaurant carries on, and the whole building is available for a party.
The room
Menus
Simple things, done beautifully
The menu is seasonal and contemporary Australian, and it changes without notice as produce comes and goes. Tasting menus sit beside the à la carte, and a table of 11 to 25 shares one of three, five or six courses.
Private dining
Private dining on the foreshore
A private dining room for twenty with the water in view, one side of the restaurant for thirty-five, or the whole building for 92 at table and 120 standing.
92 seated · 120 cocktail
Seated, the restaurant holds 92 in full, 35 for half of it and 20 in the private dining room; standing, 120 and 30.
Sails
What's on here
An SRG Hospitality venue
Sails is one of the venues in the SRG Hospitality group, founded by Bill and Kathleen Drakopoulos in 2000 and run today by managing directors Daniel Drakopoulos and Perry Drakopoulos.