The north-west Sydney suburb of Dural has been waiting eight years for The Vicar to reopen.
After nearly a decade of renovations – owner Scott Whitehouse says council red tape delayed the relaunch – the 2249-square-metre former sheep-shearing sheds are finally open, but look nothing like they once did. “We bought it in the mid ’80s and ran it for a while as a tavern-style hotel,” says Whitehouse. “It was very live-band-focused – INXS and AC/DC played here.”
There’s no trace of that now. The hotel, which was first established in 1974, has been stripped back to feature dramatic structural beams in the ceilings, the floors are now polished marble, and the furniture has a Scandi, après-ski vibe. The entrance, with its stepped white walls, is reminiscent of a contemporary art museum.
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SIGN UPThe venue now has a sports bar, a wine bar called Mrs Goldsmith and a restaurant named Wakefield’s, after the original venue name, the Vicar of Wakefield. On the outdoor terrace is the Northside Brisket Bar, which has a barbeque. Punters can order pork, beef brisket and steak rolls.
Executive chef Leigh McDivitt (Banksia Bistro, Est) is at the helm and has created a menu of elevated pub fare, with plenty of hearty meat dishes cooked on the rotisseries. The juicy whole chicken is roasted in oregano and smoked paprika, and the bistecca alla fiorentina (T-bone) and the lamb shoulder are big enough to share between four.
One of the benefits of opening a venue 36-kilometres from the CBD is the journey from paddock to plate is short. “We use a lot of local produce, meat and poultry from the area; our baked goods come from just around the corner, and everything is produced in our kitchen,” Whitehouse says.
At the wine bar, the menu is focused on small plates, like the cold-cut dish featuring San Danielle prosciutto, spicy ’nduja, Wagyu bresaola and fennel salami. And while the wine list at Wakefield’s is good, the wine bar is where the impressive stuff is. “We have about 100 wines on the list, the majority of which are local to Australia,” he says. “There’s nothing like this in Dural. Nothing at all.”
That statement is true not just of the wine list but of the venue itself. The Vicar is set back from a main road in Dural and it’s a typical outskirts-of-Sydney scene: gum trees shade the shoulder, industrial sites and strip malls dot the roadside. “We really wanted to bring a city experience to the hills community. We didn’t want people to have to go into the city to experience this kind of food and atmosphere, and I think we’ve achieved it,” says Whitehouse.
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